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THE 



CHURCH HISTORY OF 



>.'> 



BRITAIN 5 

FROM 

THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST UNTIL 
THE YEAR M.DC.XLVIII. 



ENDEAVOURED 

BY THOMAS FULLER, D.D. 



PREBENDARY OF SARUM. 



A NEW EDITION, IN SIX VOLUMES, 



BY THE REV. J. S. BREWER, M.A. 



VOLUME II. 



OXFORD: 

AT THE UNIVERSITY PftESS. 
M.DCCC.XLVJ fJ»i 



THE 



CHURCH HISTORY 



OP 



BRITAIN. 



THE THIRD BOOK, 

FROM THE COMING IN OF THE NORMANS, UNTIL THE 
APPEARING OF JOHN WICLIFFB. 



FULLER, VOL. II. 

n' 



TO THE 
RIGHT HONOURABLE 

WILLIAM, 

LORD BEAUCHAMPE, &c., 

GRANDCHILD AND HEIB APPARENT TO THE RIGHT 
HONOURABLE WILLIAM", BIARQUIS OF HERTFORD. 




I OME there are who exact of every 
Christian (as a touchstone to their bid- 
cerity) to render an account of the 
exact time of their conversion, with the 
circumstances thereof, how, when, and where per- 
formed. I must crave leave to enter myself a dis^ 
senter herein, conceiving such a demand unreason- 
able, as generally required essential to all true 
believers. 

I confess some may return a satisfactoiy answer 
thereunto ; namely, such whose souls, suddenly 
snatched out of error and viciousness, were imme- 
diately wrought upon, almost iu an instant, by the 
Spirit of God. Thus of those three thousand gained'' 



a [William Seymour, created of him, and his regard for the 

duke of Somerset in 1 660. See church. Hist, of the Rebellion, 

some account of him in Lloyd's II. 144, sqJ] 

Memoirs, p. 546. Lord Cla- ^ Acts ii. 41- 
rendon gives a high character 



4 DEDICATION. 

(on Many-sain to-day) by St. Peter at Jerusalem with 
the preaching of one sermon, each one might punc- 
tually and precisely tell the very moment of their 
true conversion, and generally, the worse men have 
been, the better they can point at the accurate date 
thereof. 

And thus as kings count their actions by the 
years of their reign, bishops formerly of their conse- 
cration, so these may use the style, In the first of 
our conversion, first, or second, &c. And as Herod 
kept a festival of his natural birthdays such, if so 
pleased, may duly and truly observe an anniversary 
solemnity of their regeneration. 

A privilege, not granted to all true believers, God, 
to shew his power that he can, and pleasure that he 
will, vary the manner of men's conversion, (though 
going the same path by his word and Spirit,) useth a 
slower pace in the hearte of others in whom grace is 
wrought sensim sine sensu^ modelled by degrees : in 
such no mortal man can assign the minutary juncture 
of time, when preparing grace, which cleared the 
ground, ended, and saving grace, which finished the 
fabric of conversion, did first begin. 

Observable to this purpose are the words of our 
Saviour, So is the kingdom of God^ as if a man 
should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep^ 
and rise night and day^ and the seed should spring 
and grow up^ he hnoweth not kow^. That grace is 

«* Matt. xiv. 6. d Mark iv. 26. 






DEDICATION. 5 

sown, and is grown, men know ; but when and how, 
in the persons aforesaid, God knows. 

Besides these (adult converts), there are a second 
sort of Christians unable to discover the date of 
grace dawning in them; namely, such who with 
Timothy® may be said to be good, time out of mind, 
sucking in grace with their milk, extracted from, 
and educated under a pious parentage. 

I hope and trust that your honour may truly be 
ranked in this latter form, that as many ancient 
deeds, written before the reign of king Henry the 
Third, are commonly without any date, grace in like 
manner will arise so early in your heart, advantaged 
by your godly birth and breeding, that you shall not 
remember the beginning thereof. 

However, to make sure work, it will be safest to 
examine yourself, when arrived at age, what eminent 
accessions and additions of grace you can remember, 
with the place and time when the same were effect- 
ually wrought in your soul, and what bosom sin 
you have conquered. Especially take notice of your 
solemn reconciling to God after repentance for some 
sin committed. 

David no doubt in some sort may be said to be 
bom good, God being his hope when in the womb^, 
when on the breasts of his mother, trusting in him*^, 
and taught by him from his youth ^. Now though 

e 2 Tim. i. 5. and iii. 15. K Psal. Ixxi. 5. 

f Psal. xxii. 10. ^ Psal. Ixxi. 17. 

b3 



6 DEDICATION. 

probably he could not remember his first and general 
conyersion, he could recount his reconversion after 
his foul offences of adultery and murder, as by his 
penitential Psalm doth plainly appear. 

Otherwise such who boast themselves converted 
before memory, by the privilege of their piou8 in- 
fancy, if they can recover no memorials of their re- 
pentance after relapse, and produce no time nor 
tokens thereof, are so far from being good from 
their cradle, it is rather suspicious they will be bad 
to their cofiin, if not labouring for a better spiritual 
estate. 

And now my lord let me recommend to your 
childhood the reading of the holy scriptures, as the 
apostle termeth them', holy in the fountain, flowing 
from the Holy Spirit inditing them, holy in the con- 
duit-pipe, derived through holy men penning them^, 
holy in the liquor, teaching, and directing to holi- 
ness, holy in the cistern, working sanctity in such as 
worthily receive them, and making them wise unto 
salvation. 

Now next to the study of the scriptures, history 
best becometh a gentleman, church-history a Chris- 
tian, the British history an Englishman ; all which 
qualifications meeting eminently in your honour, 
give me some comfortable assurance that these my 
weak endeavours will not be imwelcome unto you ; 

i 2 Tim. iii. 15. ^2 Peter i. 21. 



DEDICATION. 7 

by perusing whereof some profit may probably 
accrue to yourself, and more honour will certainly 
redound to 

The meanest and unworthiest 

Of your Lordship's servants, 

THOMAS FULLER. 



B 4 



• D. 1067. 
— . SKOnLConq. 

/^ -"^^ i a 

'^'•^'^ ^^-^Vx ^ariie drunk. 

/^. ' ^ ^ I -^j \ ^Mi. English 

quered 
Uie Nor* 

^ ....ns, and 

^' ^Battel 

V '^ -Abbey 

^Kvunded. 






<" 



-y 



i ^-^ 












i 



) 



• \i 



en 



\ 



CHURCH HISTORY 



BEITAIN. 



CENTURY XI. 

ILLIAM doke of Normandy being thus a. d. 1067. 
arrived, soon conquered Harold with an I ! 1 



English in number, as above them in^^^^^. 
temperance*: for the English being revelling before, ^^"^ 
bad in the morning their brains arrested for the Abbey 




» [Not so accordiog to Mat- 
thew Paris : " Hatoldus in- 
'* terea de pugna Noricorum 
" reversQs.cumadventumWil. 
" lielmi ct^novisset, rarissimo 
" stipatuB milite Hastingas 
" pertendit. Nam prieter sti- 
" pendiarioB militis et con due 
" titios, ex provincialibuB ad- 
" modum habehat paucos, ut 
" levi uegotio bello possent a 
" supervenientibus superari." 
Hiat. Ang.p.3. YetThomasof 
Walsiti;;;ham, in his Ypodigma 
Neu3triEe,p.436, and Gulielmua 
Genimeticensis, Hist. Norman, 
vii. 35, assert that he collected an 
innumerable multitude. Thesn 
statements can onljr be recon- 
ciled by supposing that these 



writers, being Normans, have 
exaggerated the numbers of the 
tjaxons, or that they allude to 
the rude soldiery and peasantry 
hastily drawn ti^tner, and 
not to regular troops, in which 
the Normans most certainly far 
exceeded the English. See par- 
ticularly Plor.Wigorn. an . 1 066, 
and William of j\lalmsbury, f. 
53, 56. The statement of this 
latter writer deserves attention. 
His observations on the state 
of the English at the time of 
the Norman invasion more 
clearly shew than the relation 
of any single act, the real 
causes of their defeat. Their 



inds c 






of Gildas s description of the 



10 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1067. arrearages of the indigested fumes of the former 
I "^' night, and were no better than drunk when they 



Britons' at the time of the 
coining in of the Saxons. After 
observing that upon their con- 
version to Christianity , through- 
out every grade they were emi- 
nent for piety, self-denial^ and 
works of charity, he proceeds ; 
'' What shall I say of so many 
" bishops, hermits, and abbots ? 
** Was not the whole island 
" resplendent with the relics of 
*' native saints, so numerous 
" that you can scarce pass any 
" village of ordinary account, 
*' where you will not hear the 
" name of some new saint. And 
*' of how many has the me- 
'' mory perished, through the 
" want of historians ! " But in 
a few years previous to the ar- 
rival of the Normans, learning 
and religion fell into neglect. 
The clergy, contented with a 
little learning picked up in 
haste (literatura tumultuaria), 
could scarce stammer forth the 
words of the sacraments ; and 
he was a prodigy among them 
who understood grammar. The 
monks made a mockery of the 
rules of their order, by the 
fineness of their clothes, and 
unreserved gratification of 
their appetite. The nobles de- 
voted to gluttony were not in 
the custom of going to church 
in the morning, like Christians, 
but in their bed-chambers, in 
the arms of their wives, tasted 
merely with their ears the so- 
lemnities of matins and mass, 
as they were gabbled over by 
the hurrying priest. The com- 
mons were a prey to the no- 
bles, drained of their property. 



or driven into distant lands to 
collect wealth for others. 

Many had proceeded to such 
atrociousness, as publicly to 
prostitute, or make slaves of 
their handmaids, who had be* 
come pregnant by them, as 
soon as they had satisfied their 
lust. Drunkenness was com- 
mon to all classes : in this thev 
spent whole nights and days ; 
guilty of great profusion, 
though living in small and 
despicable dwellings; unlike 
in this respect to the French 
and Normans, who spend 
little, while their houses are 
great and superb. In the 
train of drunkenness followed 
those vices which efiTeminate 
the minds of man. And 
then it was that by one battle, 
and that of no great difficulty, 
they lost themselves and their 
country. 

To conclude ; at the time of 
the Norman conquest their 
dress was light, reaching to the 
knee ; they wore their hair 
short, their beards shaven; their 
arms were laden with golden 
armlets, and their skin orna- 
mented with punctures. Their 
vices of eating to surfeiting, 
and drinking till they provoked 
vomiting they taught their con. 
querors,in other respects adopt- 
ing their manners. 

The Normans on the con- 
trary were costly in their dress 
even to emulation ; and nice in 
their food : accustomed to war, 
and bold in attacking their 
enemies, but never scrupling 
to gain their ends with deceit 



CENT, XI. 



of Britain, 



11 



came to fights But these things belong to the A. d. 1067. 

historians of the state to relate ; whilst it is proper \ 1 

to us to observe, that king William, to testify his 
gratitude to God for the victory, founded in that 
place Battel Abbey, endowing it with revenues and 
large immunities. The abbot whereof, being a baron 
of parliament, carried a pardon in his presence, who 
casually coming to the place of execution, had power 
to save any malefactor*'. The Abbey church was a 
place of safety for any felon or murderer, though 
such popish sanctuaries themselves, if accused as 
unlawful, can find no refuge in scripture precepts, or 
precedents for their justification, seeing the very 
horns of the altar, by divine command, did push 
away those wilful offenders which fled unto them : 
and impunity being the greatest motive to impiety, 
made their convent the centre of sinners. Here the 
monks flourished in all aflluence, as the old world in 
the days of Noah, they ate^ they drank^ they haughty 
they sold^ would I might add, they married wiveSy 
and were given in marriage^ (for want whereof they 



or bribery when they could 
not succeed by open means. 
Superb in their buildings, mo- 
derate in their expenses, en- 
vious of their equals^ ambitious 
of surpassing their superiorst 
as earnest in plundering their 
own vassals^ as in defending 
them from being plundered by 
all others. Faithful in general 
to their lords; but forgetting 
their fidelity upon a slight of- 
fence ; and ready for money to 
forgive injuries. Most courteous 
of all people to strangers, and 
taking wives even from their 
vassals. Religion, at that time 
dead in England, they roused 



again into life and being ; re- 
paired the churches, and built 
new monasteries; so devoted to 
their country and its aggran- 
dizement, that every rich man 
among them thought that he 
had lost a day which he had 
not made remarkable by some 
act of magnificence. 6ul. 
Malmsbur. f^ 57.] 

^ Mane adhuc ebrii contra 
hostes incunctanter procedunt^ 
M. Paris, [a. 1066. p. 3. See 
Malmsb. f. 56, b.] 

c Camdens Brit, in Sussex, 
[p. 226. See its charter in Sel- 
den's notes to Eladmer, p. 165.} 



12 The Church Historu book hi. 

A.D. 1067. did worse,) till in the days of king Henry the Eighth 
— "^' they were all drowned in the general deluge of the 

dissolution. 
WiiKam 2. Now it was proper to the place of Stiffand, 

crowned by r>t 

the arch- archbishop of Canterbury, to perform the solemnities 
York^ ^ of king William's coronation ; but he declined that 
many of employment, pretending William's unlawful title, 
the English gj^j loath to pour the sacred oil on his head, whose 

dergy fly ^ 

into Scot- hands had shed so much innocent blood : the other 
accounting himself to have a better title to the 
crown by conquest, than the archbishop had to his 
mitre by simony, disdained his service, and accepted 
the crown from the hands of Ealdred, archbishop of 
York : who first required an oath of him, to defend 
the church, minister justice, and, amongst other 
things, to use Englishmen as favourably as Normans. 
Notwithstanding which oath, he made the Normans 
his darlings, and the English his drudges ; insomuch 
as many English bishops and abbots, unable to com- 
port themselves with his harshness, and conceiving 
it more credit and safety to go than to be driven 
away, fearing by degrees they should all be quar- 
relled out of their places, unwillingly willing quitted 
their preferments, and fled into Scotland^. Here 
king Malcolm Canmore, who had married Margaret, 
niece to Edward the Confessor, freely received them. 



^ [How great that oppres- " scilicet Anglia facta est ex- 

sion was we learn from the " terorum habitatio et alieni- 

bitter complaint of Malmsbury. " genarum dominatio. NuUus 

Referring to a prophecy of " hodie Anglus vel dux, vel 

king Edward, who had pre- ** pontifex, vel abbas ; advenac 

dieted the subjugation of Eng- *^ quoque divitias et viscera 

land to the Normans, he adds: *' corrodunt Angliae; nee uUa 

Hujus ergo vaticinii veri- " spes est finiendae miseriaj." 



C€ 



*' tatem nos experimur; quod De Gestis, f. 52.] 



CENT. XI. of Britain, 18 

He himself had formerly lived fourteen years in a. d. 1067. 
England; and now of a gratefiil guest, became a ^^•^^: 
bountifiil host, and courteously harboured these 
exiles. And as at this time England began to turn 
France, imitating the language, garb, and manners 
thereof, so Scotland began now to turn England; 
the families transplanted thither transporting the 
English customs, fashions, and civilities along with 
them. 

3. About this time Doomsday book was made, a. d. 1068. 
containing an exact survey of all the houses and book made. 
land in the kingdom, unpartially done with rigorous 
severity. They omitted nee lucum^ nee lacum^ nee 
iocum% so accurate they were in the very fractions of 

the land : and therefore it may seem a miracle that 
the monks of Croyland should find a courtesy pecu- 
liar to themselves, (belike out of veneration to their 
covent,) that their lands were rated nee ad spatium^ 
nee ad pretium^^ " neither so much in quantity, nor 
" so high in value as indeed they were worth." This 
Book of the General Survey of England, though 
now begun, did take up some years before it was 
completed fi^. 

4. King William called a synod of his bishops at a. d. 1070. 
Winchester, wherein he was personally present, with p^^in a*^ 
two cardinals sent thither from Rome. Here Sti-^^^^^ 
gand archbishop of Canterbury was deposed, for^- 
several uncanonical exorbitances, and Landfranc, a 
lordly Lombard, substituted in his room. Stigand 

lived some years after in a prison, and, which was 

e Ingulphi Historia, f. 516. anno 1078. [See sir Henry 

^ Idem ibid. Ellis Introduction to Dooms- 

S Plorentius Wigorniensis day.] 
and Higden make it finished 



14 



Tlie Church History 



BOOK III. 



A. D, 1070. worse, a prison lived in him, being straitened in his 
1 — iJIlown bowels towards himself. For pretending po- 
verty, he denied himself necessaries, being afterwards 
discovered to carry a key about his neck which 
opened to infinite treasure, so that none would lavish 
pity on him, who starved in store, and was wilfully 
cruel to himself^. 



h [The deprivation of Sti- 
gand appears to have been re- 
markably unjust ; and was no 
doubt occasioned by his non. 
compliance with the wishes of 
William I., and for having re- 
ceived his pall from the anti- 
pope Benedict X. The sub- 
sequent chroniclers in their 
histories of the Norman con- 
querors and their proceedings^ 
either from carelessness or de- 
sign^ have omitted some most 
material passages, and their 
narrations are consequently 
most inconsistent. The degra- 
dation of Stigand proceeded 
from three causes^ says Flor. 
Wigorn. a. 1070 : first, for his 
holding the archbishopric of 
Canterbury in conjunction with 
the see of Winton whilst Ro- 
bert the archbishop was in ex. 
ile, for using Robert's pall in 
the celebration of mass, and 
lastly, for receiving his own 
pall from Benedict an excom- 
municated pope. Then con- 
tinues the historian ; *^ Ejus 
quoque frater Agelmarus 
£ast.anglorum episcopus est 
degradatus ; abbates etiam 
aliqui ibi degradati sunt, 
'• operant dante rege ut quam^ 
" plures ex Anglis suo honore 
** privarentur, in quorum locum 
sues gentis personas suhro- 
garet, ob conjrmationem sci. 



4« 



€4 



Mt 



4t 



*< 



«4 



** licet sui, quod noviter acquL 
'' sieraty regni" This was the 
great offence; for as to the 
first charge, both Dunstan and 
others not unusually held two 
sees, for which they are com- 
mended by these monkish 
writers. 2dly, Robert having 
been banished for his turbulent 
conduct, his see was of course 
vacant. And lastly, when Sti- 
gand received his pall, Bene- 
dict was the ackno/vledged 
pope; nor was it indeed easy 
in the contentions of these am- 
bitious pontiffs to discover who 
was the legitimate superior. Al- 
though Malmsbury is severe in 
his censure of Stigand, yet in 
other places of his history he 
acknowledges that Stigand act- 
ed more from error than design : 
" Ego conjicio ilium non ju- 
*^ dicio sed errore peccasse, 
** quod homo illiteratus, sicuti 
** plerique et pene omnes tunc 
" temporis Anglise episcopi, 
" nesciret quantum deliqueret, 
" rem ecclesiasticorum nego- 
'^ tiorum sicut publicorum acti- 
*• tari existimans." De Gestis, 
f. 116. 

With his usual cunning, 
proceeds the Chronicler, Wil- 
liam refused to receive the 
crown from Stigand's hands, 
suborning objectors on the part 
of the see apostolic. He did 



CENT. XI. 



of Britain. 



15 



c< 



« 



M 



« 



« 



5, A learned lawyer hath observed, that " the first a.d. 1070. 

encroachment of the bishop of Rome upon thel — '. T 

liberties of the crown of England was made in the firstiSSpa. 
time of king William the Conqueror— For the Con-^^^* 
queror came in with the pope's banner, and under England, 
it won the battle which got him the garland ; and 
" therefore the pope presimied he might boldly pluck 
" some flowers from it, being partly gained by his 
** countenance and blessing*." Indeed king William 
kindly entertained these legates sent from Rome, so 
to sweeten the rank savour of his coming in by the 
sword, in the nostrils of religious men, pretending 
what he had gotten by power he would keep by a 
pious compliance with his holiness. But especially 
he did serve the pope to be served by him ; that so 
with more ease and less envy he might suppress the 
English clergy. But although this politic prince 
was courteous in his complimental addresses to the 
see apostolic, yet withal he was carefiil of the main 
chance to keep the essentials of his crown; as, 
amongst others, by these four remarkable particulars 
may appear 



k 



not think fit however to throw 
off the mask at once^ but treated 
the prelate with the greatest 
possible respect^ until the arri. 
val of the pope's nuncio, who 
calling a council deposed Sti- 
gand appealing in vain to the 
king's protection. The unfor- 
tunate prelate was detained a 
prisoner at Winchester for the 
rest of his life. See also Ger- 
vas Dorobern. in Twysden, p. 

13.27O 
* Sir John Davys in his Irish 

Reports; case of preemunire, 

f. 87 and 89. [ed. 1628.] 



i< 



u 



€C 



^ [Matt. Paris speaks very 
strongly of William's encroach- 
ment upon the power and pro- 
perty of the ecclesiastics. "A.D. 
1070. rex WiUielmus pes- 
' simo usus consilio, omnia 
Anglorum monasteria auro 
spolians et argento insatia- 
" biliter appropriavit, et ad 
" majora sanctse ecclesiae op- 
probria calicibus et feretris 
non pepercit. £piscopatus 
quoque et abbatias omnes 
*' quae baronias tenebant, et 
'* eatenus ab omni servitute 
" saeculari libertatem habu- 



te 



« 



u 



16 The Church History book hi. 

A. D. 1070. 6. First, he retained the ancient custom of the 
t — J^^ Saxon kings, investing bishops and abbots, by deli- 
wHiiTin-vering them a ring and a staff, whereby without 
d^t^ more ado, they were put into plenary possession of 
persons. ^^ powoF and profit of their placed Yea, when 
archbishop Landfranc, one so prevalent that he 
could persuade king William to any thing, provided 
that the king himself thought it fitting, requested 
William to bestow on him the donation of the abbey 
of St. Augustine in Canterbury ; the king refused, 
saying, " that he would keep all pastoral staves in 
" his own hand™." Wiser herein than his successors, 
who parted with those staves, wherewith they them- 
selves were beaten afterward. 
And re- 7. Secondly, being demanded to do fealty for his 
fe^y to ^^c^^wn of England to Gregory the Seventh, pope of 
the pope. Rome, he returned an answer as followeth : 

In English : 

ExceUentisstmo sanct<B ec- '* To Gregory the most excel- 

clesuB pastori Gregorio glo~ " lent pastor of the holy church, 

riosusy gratia Dei Anglorum " William by the grace of God, 

rex, et dux Normannorum '* king of the English, and duke 

WiUlelmus salutem cum ami'- ** of the Normans, wisheth health, 

citia, Huhertus legatus '* and desireth his friendship ^, 

tuus, religiose pater, ad me " Religious father, your legate 

veaiens ex tua parte me ad- " Hubert coming unto me, ad- 

monuit, ut quatenus tibi et *' monished me, in your behalf, 

successoribus tuisjldelitatem ** inasmuch as I should do fealty 

Jacerem, et de pecunia quam " to you and your successors, and 

antecessores met ad Roma- " that I should take better care 

** erant sub servitute statuit Ang. Sac. I. p. 434.] 

** militari, &c." See also Watt's ™ Gervasius Dorobemensis 

note on the passage.] MS. cited ibid. [Since printed 

I Annal. Eccl. Lichfield MS. in Twysden's X. Scriptores, p. 

cited by Mr. Selden in his 1327.] 

notes on Eadmerus, p. 142. ^ Or, remembereth his love 

[Since published in Wharton's to him. 



CENT. XI. 



of Britain. 



17 



futm ecclesiam mitere tole^ 
hani, melius cogitarem, {7- 
y) num adtnisi, aUerum non 
admisi. Fidelitatem facere 
nolui, nee volo, quia nee ego 
promisi^ nee anteeessores 
meos antecessoribus tuis, id 
Jecisse comperio. Pecunia 
tribusjere annis, in GaiUis 
me agente, negUgenter coL 
lecta est ; nunc vero, divina 
misericordia me in regnum 
meum reverse, quod coUeo 
turn est per prafatum /e- 
gaium nUttetur ; et quod re. 
liquum est per legatos Lan- 
franci, archiepiscopi Jldelis 
nostriy cum opportunum fu-^ 
erity transmittetur. Orate 
pro nobis, el pro statu regni 
nostri, quia anteeessores 
vestros dileximus, et vos pr<B 
omnibus sincere diligere et 
obedienter audire desidera^ 
mus^. 



a 
«« 
«< 

€( 

t€ 
U 
U 
*( 
tt 
<€ 
€t 
€f 
U 
<€ 
€€ 
<« 
€t 
€€ 
€€ 
(< 
<C 
<f 

et 
ct 
t« 
u 
•« 



for the payment of the money A. D. 1070. 
which my predecessors were j^_2!!_— . 
wont to send to the church of 
Rome. One thing I have 
granted^ the other I have not 
granted. Fealty I would not 
do> nor will I, because I neither 
promised it> neither do I find 
that my predecessors ever did 
it to your predecessors. The 
money for almost three years 
when I was abroad in France 
hath been but negligently col" 
lected. But now seeing by dl. 
vine mercy I am returned into 
my kingdom, what is gathered 
is sent by the aforesaid legate ; 
and the arrears which remain 
shall be sent by the messengers 
of Landfranc, our faithful arch- 
bishop, in time convenient. 
Pray for us, and for the good 
state of our kingdom, because 
we have loved your predeces- 
sors, and do desire sincerely to 
love, and obediently to hear 
you, above all others." 



It is strange on what pretence of right the pope 
required this fealty; was it because he lent king 
William a consecrated bannerP, that under the 
colour thereof he endeavoured to display his power 
over all England, as if the king must do him homage 
as a banneret of his creation, or because he had 
lately humbled Henry the Fourth, the German em- 



o MS. codex epistolarum also in Landfranc's Works, p. 

Lanfranci, cited by sir John 304. ed. Dachery, 1648.] 
Davys in his Irish Reports of P [Will, of Malmsbur. f. 56.] 
pnemunire, f. 89. [Printed 



FULLER) VOL. II. 



C 



18 The Church History book in. 

A.D. io7o.peror, he thought that all kings in like manner must 
J!. L-L be slaves unto him, the pope being then in his ver- 
tical height, and dog-days of the heat of his power ? 
But we need no further inquiry into the cause of his 
ambition, when we read him to be Gregory the 
Seventh, otherwise Hildebrand, that most active of 
all that sat in that chair. Surely he sent this his 
demand rather with an intent to spy than hope to 
speed therein, so to sound the depth of king Wil- 
liam, whom if he found shallow, he knew how to 
proceed accordingly ; or else he meant to leave this 
demand dormant in the deck, for his successors to 
make advantage thereof; who would claim for due 
whatsoever they challenged before. However, so 
bold an asker never met with a more bold denier. 
Soon did king William find his spirits, who formerly 
had not lost, but hid them for his private ends. 
England's conqueror would not be Rome's vassal, 
and he had brain enough to deny what the other 
had brow to require, and yet in such wary language, 
that he carried himself in a religious distance, yet 
politic parity with his holiness. 
King wa. 8. Thirdly, king William would in no wise suffer 
ctTthe*^*^" any one in his dominion to acknowledge the bishop 
rfTOM^d^^ Rome for apostolical without his command, or 
ardibishop to rcccivo the popo's letters, except first they had 

in his own , , , 

dominion, been showcd imto him P. As for the archbishop of 
Canterbury, primate of England, though by his own 
authority he might congregate councils of bishops, 
and sit president in them, yet the king permitted 
him to appoint or prohibit nothing but what was 
according to his own will and pleasure, and what the 
king had ordained before*?. 

P Eadmerus Hist. Nor. p. 6. q Idem ibid. 



CENT. XI. of Britain, 19 

9. Lastly, king William suffered no bishop to ex- a. d. 1070. 
communicate any of his barons or officers for adul- — — L-1 
tery, incest, or any such heinous crime, except bytobe'ec-^ 
the king's command, first made acquainted with the^^^^j^ 
same. Here the word baron is not to be taken in «v* ^® 

king 8 com- 

that restrictive sense to which the modem acception mand. 
hath confined it, only for such of the higher nobility, 
which have place and votes in parliament, but gene- 
rally for such who by ttXWXXt en cfieef, or in capites as 
they term it, held land immediately of the king'. 
And an English poet^ counted the Virgil of his age, 
and the Ennius in ours, expresseth as much in his 
rhythmes, which we here set down, with all the rust 
thereof, without rubbing it off, (remembering how 
one John Throgmorton, a justicer of Cheshire in 
queen Elizabeth's days, for not exhibiting a judicial 
concord, with all the defects of the same, but sup- 
plying or filling up what was worn out of the au- 
thentical original, was fined for being over-officious*,) 
and therefore take them with their faults and all, as 
foUoweth : 

®be bettte ioa^ tj^at noe man tj^at of ti)e IKing j^ulD ougi)t 
Sn 0]^eif ov in cni Sbt\\^i$tt to i^an^ing loeve ibcou$i)t» 
i^ote ti)f SStavD^nto of j^oli; ^j^ivcj^ tj^at brougjbt l^im tj^er^to 
Sj^e IKing %t\st to j^te i^ailtfe^ ioat jb^ i^ati mtetio^. 
9nD loii^D b^cjit ion^ tj^et iooltie to amentim^nt it lictng 
9nD bote j^i; iooltie li|; t^tix lebe tioe tjbe iD^anjStng. 

And a grave author gives a good reason why the 
king must be informed before any of his barons be 
excommunicated, " lest otherwise," saith he, " the 

«■ J. Selden Spicilegium ad where these lines are printed 

Eadmerum, p. 168. somewhat differently.] 

8 Robert of Gloucester. [See * Camden's Elizabeth, anno 

Hearne's text of Robert of 1584. [Bishop Goodman's Me- 

Glouoester, p. 472. ed. 1724, moirs, L 118.] 

C 2 



90 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1070." king not being certified thereof, should out of ig- 

4 OuL I* • • 1 

" norance unawares, communicate with persons ex- 

" communicated, when such officers of his should 
" come to kiss his hand, be called to his council, or 
" come to perform any personal attendance about 
" him^.'* Hitherto we have seen how careful the 
Conqueror was in preserving his own right in church 
matters. We will conclude all with the syllogism 
which the Oracle of the common-law w frameth in 
this matter ; 

" It is agreed, that no man only can make any 
" appropriation of any church, having cure of 
" souls, being a thing ecclesiastical, and to be 
" made to some person ecclesiastical, but he 
" that hath ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 
" But William the First of himself, without any 
" other, (as king of England,) made appro- 
" priation of churches, with cure to ecclesiastical 
" persons, (as by many instances may appear.) 
" Wherefore it followeth that he had ecclesiastical 

"jurisdiction." 
And so much concerning king William's policy in 
doing justice to his own power. Proceed we now to 
his bounty, confirming old, and conferring new fa- 
vours upon the church and clergy. 
BiAops'ju- 10. First, whereas before his time the sheriff and 

nsdictions , 

firstsevered bishop jointly kept their courts together, especially 
taieriffs. at the two solemn times about Easter and Michael- 
mas, king William, in favour of the clergy, assigned 
the bishops an entire jurisdiction by themselves^ 
wherein they should have cognizance of all causes 

V Radulphus de Diceto^ in part ; de Jure Regis Ecclesi- 
anno 1 163. p. 536. astico, f. lo. 

w Lord Coke's Reports, fifth 



CBKT. XI. of Britain* 21 

relating to religion*, I say relating to religion, a a. d. 1070. 

latitude of a cheverel extension, adequate almost to — 

the mind of him that will stretch it out, and few ec- 
clesiastical judges would lose what might be got by 
measuring. Now formerly, whilst the power of 
sheriff and bishop went hand in hand together in 
the same court, neither could much outstrip other : 
but since they were severed, the spiritual power far 
outwent its old mate, improving his own by im- 
pairing the secular courts; and henceforward the 
canon law took the firmer footing in England : date 
we from hence the squint-eyes of the clergy, whose 
sight, single before, was hereafter divided with 
double looks betwixt two objects at once; the 
pope and the king, to put him first whom they eyed 
most, acting hereafter more by foreign than domestic 
interest. 

11. A learned pen makes a iust complaint, thatTb««>n- 

test betwixt 

" courts which should distribute peace, do themselves common 
" practice duels, whilst it is counted the part of a^, how** 
" resolute judge to enlarge the privilege of hisj|^^j^ 
" courty." A grievance most visible in contest be- 
twixt the common and the canon law ; which, as if 
they were stars of so different an horizon that the 
elevation of the one necessitated the depression of 
the other, lie at catch, and wait advantages one 
against another. So that, whilst both might con- 
tinue in a convenient and healthful habitude, if such 
envious corrivality were deposed, now alternately 
those courts swell to a tympany, or waste to a con- 



* See this cleared by Mr. vancement of Learning, A pho- 

Selden in his notes on Ead- rism 96. p. 463. [Translation 

nierus, p. 167. by Wats, 1640.] 

y Lord Bacon in his Ad- 

C 3 



82 The Church History book hi. 

A.D.I070' sumption, as their judges find themselves more or 
^ "' ' less strengthened with power, or befriended with 



favour. A mischief not to be remedied, till, either 
that mutual consent, or a predominant power to 
both, impartially state their jurisdictions, rightly 
setting down the landmarks thereof, and binding 
their proceedings not to exceed their bounds, which 
would both advance learning, and expedite the exe- 
cution of justice. 
KingWii. 12. To retum to kinff William: as he conferred 

Ham his ° 

charter to powor ou, SO he Confirmed profit to the clergy. 
^^^' Witness his charter, granting them throughout Eng- 
land, tithes of calves, colts, lambs, milk, butter, 
cheese, woods, meadows, mills, &c.'' Which charter 
is concluded, ('tis the strong hem keeps all the 
cloth from ravelling out,) Qui [decimarn] detinuerit^ 
per justitiam episcopi, et regis, si necesse fuerity ad 
redditionem arguatur^^ : " Who shall detain his tithes, 
" by the power of the bishop and king (if need be) 
" let him be argued into the payment thereof.*' And 
kings' arguments we know are unanswerable, as a6 
auihoritate, carrying power and penalties with them. 
This charter might seem to give the tenth loaf of all 
the bread in the land into the hands of the English 
clergy. But the municipal laws, which were after- 
wards made, did so chip and pare this loaf, with 
their modus dedmandiy that in many places, vicar- 
ages especially, a small shiver of bread falls to the 
share of the minister, not enough for his necessary 
maintenance. 



* See it at large in Mr. Sel- den, but confirmed by the Con- 
den of Tithes, c. 8. p. 225. queror. See Hoveden, f. 343.] 
[A law of Edward the Con- ^sz Others read it adigatur, 
fessor, and so quoted by Sel- ** let him be compelled." 



CENT. XI. of Britain. 23 

13. And here, to make a short, but needful di-A.D. 1070. 

gression, I find in eminent writers two contrary cha- 1-1 

racters of king William. Some make him an arrant tro^^J- 
tyrant, ruling only by the magna charta of his own ^^^. 
will, oppressing all English without cause or mea-i^a™- 
sure. No author need to be alleged for the avouching 
thereof, the thing being author for itself, being so 
notoriously known, and generally believed. Others 

make him to quit his title by conquest, and hold the 
crown, partly by bequest from king Edward the 
Confessor, whose good laws he is said to confirm, 
{leges boni regis Edvardi qtms Gidielmus hastardus 
postea conJirmaviUY ^^^ partly by compact with his 
people. Yea, the chronicles of Lichfield make him 
to call a parliament in effect ; I mean, a meeting of 
his clergy and nobility in a great council ; where, as 
if he had turned perfect Englishman, he conformed 
his practice to their ancient constitutions. 

14. Should I interpose between these opposite 0"«* «"- 

,. ^ - deavours to 

parties to reconcile them, probably the blows from ompaas 
both sides would fall heavy on my charitable indis- ference' 
cretion. Yet thus far I will be bold to say, such 
confirmation of king Edward's law (if made by king 
William) probably was rather oral and verbal, than 
real and effectual. But if real, certainly it was not 
general, but limited to some particular place, as the 
province of Kent, the English land of Goshen, which 
alone enjoyed the light of liberty, though rather 
gotten by them than given unto them. But if any 
will contend that this confirmation was general, they 
must confess it done in the latter end of his reign. 
King William when young loved honour ; when old, 

» See Mr. Seldeii, ut supra^ [^p. 224.] 

c 4 



S4 The Church History book hi. 

A. D. 1070. ease: when young, to conquer; when old, to enjoy. 

^-^ Age will make all to stoop, as here it bowed him to 

a better compliance with his people. However, this 
his confirmation of king Edward's laws was not such 
as either gave general content to, or begat assured 
confidence in the English : perchance because but a 
personal act, and but partially done, and no whit ob- 
ligatory of his posterity. This made the English 
press so importunely (though in vain) to William 
Rufus, the king's son and successor, for a recon- 
firmation of king Edward's laws, which had been 
needless (a& being the same with actum agere^ or 
rather datum petere) had the former grant from king 
William his father been conceived sufficient for their 
security. 
W^y^' 15. As for king William's particular bounty to 
bounty to Battel Abbey in Sussex, which he founded, it bare 
bey. ' better proportion to the dignity of the giver, than to 
the deserts of the receivers. For, besides those pri- 
vileges formerly mentioned'', he gave it all the land 
within a league of the site thereof. He ordered 
that no foreigner should be obtruded on their abbey, 
but in every vacancy one of their own convent should 
be elected abbot thereof; except (which heavens 
forbid) no fit person should be found therein for that 
preferment. Nor should the abbot be forced to ap- 
pear at any synod or meeting, except pleased of 
himself so to do. These and many more immunities 
he confirmed to that foundation, in such an imperious 
style, as if therewith he meant to bluster all future 



^ In the first paragraph of and in Rymer's Feed. I. 4. 

this book. [See the foundation The fullest information upon 

charter in Selden's Appendix all these subjects will be found 

to his edition of Eadmer ; in the Monasticon.] 



CENT. XI. of Britain. 25 

princes (and king Henry the Eighth among the rest) a. d. 1070. 
into a perfect obedience unto his commands. Espe-1 — 



cially with that clause in his charter, NvUtis succes- 
sorum meorum violare pr^esumat But dead kings* 
charters, though they have tongues to threaten, yet 
have no teeth to bite, especially when meeting with 
an equal after-power to rescind them. 

16. The more the pity, that such drones, lazy His hard 
abbey-lubbers, went away with the honey, whilst the with the 
industrious bees were almost starved. I mean, theS^^ft?" 
scholars of Oxford. For, at the coming in of the 
Conqueror, the students in University college (for- 
merly fomided by king Alfred) were maintained by 
pensions, yearly paid them out of the king^s ex- 
chequer : which provision was then conceived both 
most honourable, as immediately depending on the 
crown, and less troublesome, issuing out in ready 
coin, free from vexatious suits, casualties of tenants, 
and other encumbrances. But now kmg WilHam, 
who loved that the tide of wealth should flow into, 
but not ebb out of his coffers, detained and denied 
their exhibitions^. Yea, the king picked a quarrel 
with them because they sought to preserve and pro- 
pagate the English tongue, which the king designed 
to suppress, and to reduce all to the French lan- 
guage. And yet the French speech was so far from 
final prevailing in this kingdom, that it was fain at 
last to come to a composition with the English 
tongue, mixed together, as they remain at this day. 
Save that in terms in law, venery and blazon, the 
French seemeth solely to command. The scholars, 
thus deprived of their pensions, lived on the charity 

c Ex monumentis collegii Universitatis. [Quoted by Twyne, 
as below.] 



26 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. io7o.of such as loved the contmuance of their native 

#^ 1 T 

J__J_-L tongue^. Their Latin was then maintained by their 
English : though surely it was no small disturbance 
to their studies merely to depend for their subsist- 
ence on the arbitrary alms of others. 
AD. 1071. 17. Pass we now from king William unto Land- 
most kindly frauc archbishop of Canterbury, next the king, then 
S«^.^ the most considerable person in our ecclesiastical 
history. To Rome he went with Thomas, elect of 
York, and Remigius of Lincoln, all three for con- 
firmation from the pope in their preferment. Pope 
Alexander treated Landfranc so civilly, that a 
stranger, if beholding the passages betwixt them, 
haply might have mistook Landfranc for the pope, 
and the pope for the petitioner. His highness ho- 
noiu-ed him as his master, cujiis studio sumus in illis 
qiKB scimus imbuti ; " by whose care," said he, " we 
" have been instructed in those things whereof we 
" have knowledge®." 
Hisdiarge 18. Then Laudfrauc charged Thomas in the pre- 
^SJJ^as, sence of the pope, as canonically uncapable of that 
^j^^^ archbishopric, because the son of a priest. And yet 
by Landfranc's leave, no canon can be produced then 
in force, to debar priests' sons fit)m preferment, 
though some few years after in the council of Cler- 
mont such a prohibition was made. And therefore 
Eadmerus, speaking of Landfranc, calumniatits est co- 
ram papa Thomam^ in the proper acception of his 
words, speaks more truth than he was aware of, or 
probably did intend^ But Landfranc, being a pri- 

^ Br. Twyne in Antiq. Aca- any such canon as that alleged 

dem. Oxon. p. 215. by Landfranc can be produced 

e [Eadmer, H. N. p. 6.] till the time of the council of 

^Novorum p. 7. [Whether Clermont, which was held in 



CENT. XI. of Britain. 27 

vado to the pope's projects, and as well to the inten- a.d. 1071. 

tions as the actions of the church of Rome, might by '—i- 

a prolepsis antedate this objection against Thomas, 
using it for the present as a rub to retard him, which 
some years after was constituted a legal obstacle to 
exclude any priest's son from promotion. But even 
when that canon some years after was made, the 
pope was not so cruel as thereby fully and finally to 
exclude all priests' sons fi^m church dignity, but 
only to shut them out for a time, that they might 
stand at the door and knock, (I mean with the chink 
of their money,) and at last be let in when they had 
paid dear for a dispensation. 

1 9. Landfranc likewise charged Remigius, elect of And 
Lincoln, as irregular, because guilty of simony. Yet migius, 
he did not tax him with a penny of money, either Lincoln. 
paid or contracted for, only charged him that officio 
emerat^y by service-simony he had purchased the 
place of king William ; so that his officiousness to 
comply with the king's pleasiu-e had made him inju- 
rious and vexatious unto the people. Here all things 
were referred to Landfranc's own arbitration ; whom 

the pope, of an accuser made a judge, so far as either 
to admit or exclude the aforesaid prelates ; affirming, 
that if " any unworthiness crept into English prefer- 
" ment, be it charged on Landfranc his account, 
" whom he made sole judge of men's merits to any 
" promotion." 

20. But all is well that ends well ; and so did this Landfranc 
contest. Landfranc, having first given them a taste and em- 
of his power, did afterwards give them a cast of his ^ *^y°*®"*' 

the year 1095, is uncertain, bur. De Gestis Pontif. f. 1 17J 
See Selden's notes upon Ead- g Eadmerus, ibid, 
mer, p. 195. See also Malms- 



28 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1071. pity, and favourably accepted them both into their 
1— places. Hence they all post homewards, where we 

leave Landfranc safely arrived, and soundly employed 

in variety of business. 

1. In asserting the superiority of his see above 
York. 

2. In defending his tenants, in what diocese so- 
ever, from the visitations of their respective bishops, 
which gave the first original to peculiars. 

3. In repairing his church of Canterbury, lately 
much defaced with fire. 

4. In casting out secular priests and substituting 
monks in their room**. 

5. Lastly, in recovering lands long detained from 
his see. 

Nor was he affrighted with the height and great- 
ness of Odo bishop of Bayeux, though half-brother 
to king William, and earl of Kent, but wrestled a 
fair fall with him in a legal trial, and cast him flat 
on his back, regaining many lordships which Odo 
had most unjustly invaded ^ Such as desire more of 



^ [According to Eadmer 
(H. N. p. to.), and Malms- 
bury (De Gest. Pontif. f. 122.) 
Walchelinus, bishop ofWinton, 
with the concurrence of the 
king and the nobles of the 
realm, would have restored the 
regular clergy, and had indeed 
reinstated forty of them in his 
diocese; but Landfranc, sup- 
ported by pope Alexander, 
most violently and most un- 
justly expelled them, and ob- 
tained from the pope an edict 
in his favour (printed in Ead- 
mer, p. II.) It is justly ob- 
served by Fuller, that the am- 
bitious projects of the Roman 



pontifs gained greater strength 
in the time of William I., than 
in any previous periods. 

It was provided by the 
council of Winchester, held in 
the year 1 076, that priests who 
were married should not be 
compelled to put away their 
wives; but that those who were 
unmarried should be interdict- 
ed from marrying, and that no 
one should hereafter be admit- 
ted to holy orders without a 
previous profession, before his 
bishop, that he was not mar- 
ried. Wilkins* Cone. I. 367.] 

i [Eadmer, H. N. p. 9. Wil- 
kins* Concil. I. 323.] 



CENT. XI. 



of Britain. 



29 



Landfranc his character, let them consult Eadmerus A.p. 1071. 

6 GuL 1. 

a monk of Canterbury, and therefore prodigal in 
Landiranc's praise, an archbishop of Canterbury, and 
great promoter of monastical life^. Indeed there 
was a design, driven on by Walkeline bishop of Win- 
chester, who had privately wrought the king to abet 
it, to reinduce secular priests into monks' places; 
till Landiranc, getting notice, defeated the plot; 
procuring that all such monks, whom he had first 
fastened in their convents, were afterwards rivetted 
therein by papal authority^. 

21. About this time a constitution was made, that a. d. 1075. 
bishops should remove their sees from petty towns sees w^ 
to populous places. This reason being rendered for^^^g^^ 
their removal, Ne viksceret episcopalis dignitas^ by°*^* 
their long living in so little villages. Such bishops' 
churches could not properly be called cathedrals, 
who sat not upon chairs, but low stools, so incon- 
siderably small were some places of their residences. 
A fair candlestick, advantageously set, in some sense 
may be said to give light to the candle itself; and 
episcopal lustre will be the brighter, if placed in 
eminent cities. Besides, bishops having now gotten 
canon law, and distinct courts by themselves, much 
people repaired unto their consistories, which conve- 
niently could not be accommodated in little villages. 



^ [See alsd an admirable de- 
scription of his character by 
Malmsb. De Gest. Pontif. f. 
1 1 6 J and tlie Saxon Chron. an. 
1 070. sq. He was far superior 
in literary qualifications to any 
of his predecessors, and one of 
the best scholars oi his time, 
he shewed in his contro- 



as 



versy with the celebrated Be. 



rengarius. At the same time 
he was exceedingly severe and 
tyrannical, on one occasion pro- 
ceeding even to the infliction 
of corporal punishment upon 
some monks who opposed his 
proceedings. See the remark- 
able narrative in the Saxon 
Chronicle, ib.] 

^ [Eadmer, H. N. p. 10.] 



so The Church History book in. 

A.D. 1075. but required bigger places for their better entertain- 

^ment. In order to this command, the bishop of 

Dorchester near Oxford removed to Lincoln"*; as 
somewhat before, Selsey was translated to Chi- 
chester, and Sherborne to Salisbury ; and, not long 
after, Thetford to Norwich. Now as these cities to 
which they removed, being great before, grew greater 
afterwards, so those places which they left, Dor- 
chester (and Selsey especially) decayed to con- 
temptible villages ; it faring with places as with per- 
sons, the rich grow richer still, and the meaner are 
daily diminished. 
Woistan's 22. As thcse bishops accounted themselves well 
saveUi hu busied m removing their bishopncs, so some, I am 
bishopnc ^^^.^^ ^ffere ill employed in endeavouring to remove a 
good bishop, I mean Wolstan, from his church of 
Worcester. As the poets feign of Janus, that he 
had two faces, because living before and after the 
flood, so this Wolstan may be charactered accord- 
ingly, made bishop before, but continuing his place 
long after the Norman inundation. But in what 
sense soever he may be said to have two faces, he 
had but one heart, and that a single and sincere one 
to God, and all goodness ; yet his adversaries heaved 
at him to cast him out of his bishopric, because an 
Englishman of the old stamp ; but he sat safe, right- 
poised therein, with his own gravity and integrity. 
And, being urged to resign his staff and ring, ensigns 
of his episcopacy, he refused to surrender them to 

m [William of Malmsbury, mentions the translation of 

who has given an abstract of Lichfield to Chester. De Ges- 

the proceedings of this council, tis Pont. f. (117.) With 

omits all notice of the trans- Malmsbury the other copies of 

lation of the see of Dorchester this council agree. See WiU 

to Lincoln, and in place of it, kins' Concil. I. 363. 



CEKT.Xl. 



of Britain. 



31 



any man alive, but willingly offered them up at the a.d. 1075. 

tomb of Edward the Confessor, from whom he re 

ceived them. This his gratitude to his dead patron, 
and candid simplicity in neglecting the pomp of his 
place, procured him much favour, and occasioned 
his peaceable confirmation in his bishopric". 

23. At this time several liturries were used in The on- 

. ginal <rf J*- 

England, which caused confusion, and much dis- eum/um 

tuum SO" 



rum. 



^ [Ailredus Rievall. p. 405. 
ed. Twysden. 

Thomas archbishop of York 
laid claim to the see of Wor- 
cester^ which had sometimes 
been held in commendam by 
other archbishops of York, 
According to Malmsbury^ an^ 
other pretext for removing 
Wulstan was his want of learn- 
ing. De Gestis^ f. 66^ b. Ang. 
Sac. II. 255. 

The same writer mentions an 
anecdote relating to this con- 
tention, which shews the simpli- 
city of Wulstan's character. The 
king and the archbishop were 
not inclined to favour him, and 
his opponent Thomas the arch- 
bishop^ a Norman of consider- 
able learning and ability, was 
busily employed in preparing 
his cause. Wulstan having 
retired for his defence, said to 
his clerks : " We have not yet 
•• chaunted The Ninth Hour ; 
" let us begin it then." His 
clerks replied ; " That there 
" was sufficient time for it 
'* hereafter, and that he should 
'* rather attend to the business 
" in hand ; for if the king and 
" his nobles should hear them, 
'' they would only turn them 
" into ridicule." The venerable 



n 



tt 



€i 



(( 



prelate replied ; " Let us first 
" do the service of God, and 
'■ afterwards attend to the liti- 
" gations of men. Know ye 
'^ not that the Lord hath said ; 
" When ye shall he brought he- 
" fare governors and kings, 
take no thought how or what 
ye shall speak, for it shall 
he given you in that same hour 
what ye shall speak" H aving 
performed this service of the 
churchy he went into court, 
and defended himself with so 
much simplicity and honesty, 
that he gained his cause^ and 
the favour of the king ever 
after. This anecdote Malms- 
bury heard from a contem- 
porary. See Will. Malmsb. de 
Vita Wulstani in the Ang. 
Sacr. II. p. 241. For this bio- 
graphy Malmsbury was much 
indebted to Colman a monk, 
afterwards prior of Westbury, 
who died in 11 13. He com- 
posed a life of Wulstan in 
Anglo-Saxon, for which he was 
well qualified, having been a 
disciple of Wulstan, and his 
chaplain for fifteen years. An- 
other authority was Hamming, 
sub-prior of Worcester, Wul- 
stan's friend and contempo- 
rary.] 



3S 



The Church History 



BOOK I If. 



-^•^-jojB.turbed men*8 devotions. Yea, which was worse, a 

i8 GuL 1. —7 7 

brawl, yea, a battle happened betwixt the English 

monks of Glassenbury and Thurstan, their Norman 
abbot in their very church obtruding a service upon 
them which they disliked. Unfit persons to fight, 
being by their profession men of peace, and unfitter 
the place for a quarrel. Have ye not hotises to eat 
and drink in f saith St. Paul to the Corinthians, or 
despise ye the church of God^f Was there no other 
room in their convent for them to fall out and fight 
in, but their church alone ? Here was an holy war 
indeed, when church forms, candlesticks, and cruci- 
fixes were used for shields by the monks against the 
abbot's armed men, brought in against them. Nor 
was holy water only, but much blood spilled in the 
place; eight monks being wounded, and two slain 
(or if you will) sacrificed near the steps of the high 
aJtarP. But this accident, ill in itself, was then con- 



^ I Cor. xi. 22. 

P Eulogium an ancient and 
authentic Chronicle, cited by 
Mr. Fox, vol. I. p. 238. [Will, 
of Malmsb. f. 62. Fox in his 
Martyrology has given an exact 
account of this quarrel. '* [This] 
*' Thurstanus the said William 

[the Conqueror] had brought 

out of Normandy from the 
'^ abbey of Cadomum [Caen], 
'' and placed him abbot of 
" Glastenbury. The cause of 
** this contentious battle was 
^' for that Thurstanus con- 
*^ temning their quire service, 
'* then called the use of S. 
'* 6regory,compelled his monks 
" to the use of one William a 
" monk of Fiscam in Norman- 
'^ dy. Whereupon came strife 
'* and contentions amongst 



(( 



<« 



" them, first in words, then 
^* from words to blows, after 
•' blows then to armour, &c." 
For his authority he places 
in the margin, '* Ex Eulogio 
" Historico, lib. 3." but the 
above passage is also a literal 
version of Florentius Wigom. 
third book, a. 1083. (for so it 
is divided in the MS. in Cor- 
pus Christi College, Oxford), 
and differs nothing from Flo- 
rence except in the passage 
which Fox rightly says, " sa- 
'* voureth of some monkish 
<^ addition besides the text." 
Florence of Worcester says, 
two monks were killed and 
fourteen wounded ; but the 
Saxon Chron. and Mat. Paris, 
three killed and eighteen 
wounded ; and probably the 



C£NT. XI. 



of Britain. 



SS 



ceived good in the event thereof, because occasioning a. d. 1083. 
a settlement and unifonnity of liturgy all over Eng- '^ ^"^' ^* 
land. For hereupon Osmund, bishop of Salisbury, 
devised that ordinary or form of service which here- 
after was observed in tie whole realm : his church's 
practice being a precedent, and the devotion therein 
a direction to all others. Henceforward the most 
ignorant parish priest in England, though having no 
more Latin in all his treasury, yet understood the 
meaning of, secundum usum Sarum^ that all service 
must be ordered, "according to the course and 
^ custom of Salisbury church pp." 

24. I find no Jews in England (no deviation, I The Am 
hope, from church history to touch at the synagogue) S^j^ws 
before the reign of the Conqueror, who brought J^*''^' 
many from Roan in Normandy, and settled them in 
London, Norwich, Cambridge, Northampton, &c.*i 



eight in the text is only a mis- 
print for eighteen. The latter 
writer also refers this quarrel 
to the year 1079. The abbot 
was deposed and banished. 

This however was not a sin- 
gle instance, as might have 
been expected. Most of the 
Norman abbots had been thrust 
upon the monasteries^ as a re- 
ward for their services, without 
any regard being paid to the 
rights of the existing abbots ; 
and being generally of warlike 
habits, they frequently fell to 
fighting with their monks. Thus 
Thorald, a monk of Fescamp, 
was intruded upon the abbey 
of Malmsbury, though Bright- 
ric the abbot was still alive. 
But as he was continually en- 
gaged in squabbling with the 
monks, William transferred him 

FULLER, VOL. II. 



to the abbey of Borough^ which 
was indeed very rich, but con- 
tinually infested by a band of 
marauders, headed by the fa- 
mous Hereward the Saxon ; a 
very troublesome foe to the 
Conqueror ; William adding 
these words on the occasion : 
•* By the splendor of God," he 
says, •* because he shews hiin- 
" self more of a soldier than 
*' an abbot, I'll find his match 
'* for him. Let him go there 
" and try his military prowess, 
" and find sport in fighting as 
" long as he pleases." Vita 
Aldhelmi, p. 372. Compare 
Sax. Chron. a. 1070.] 

PP [See Bromton s Chron. 

P-977. I.] 

q S tow's Survey of London, 

[p. 288.] 



34 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A D. 1083. In what capacity these Jews came over I find not ; 

'— perchance as plunderers, to buy such oppressed Eng- 
lishmen's goods which Christians would not meddle 
with. SuflSceth it us to know, that an invasion by 
conquest (such as king William then made) is like 
an inn entertaining all adventurers ; and it may be 
these Jewish bankers assisted the Conqueror with 
their coin. These Jews, though forbidden to buy 
land in England, grew rich by usury, their con- 
sciences being so wide, that they were none at all ; 
so that in the barest pasture, in which a Christian 
would starve, a Jew would grow fat, he bites so 
close unto the ground. And ever bow down their 
backs^ is part of God's curse upon the Jews. And 
crook-backed men, as they eye the earth, the centre 
of wealth, so they quickly see what straight persons 
pass by, and easily stoop to take up what they find 
thereon; and therefore no wonder if the Jewish 
nation, whose souls are bowed down with covetous- 
ness, quickly wax wealthy therewith. King William 
favoured them very much ; and Rufus his son much 
more ; especially if that speech reported of him be 
true, that he should swear by St. Luke's face, his 
common oath, " if the Jews could overcome the 
" Christians, he himself would become one of their 
" sect V 



^ Stow's Survey of Lon- 
don, p. 288. [From Malmsb. 
De Gestis, f. 69, b. Eadmer 
accuses Rufus of obliging 
converted Jews to renounce 
Christianity and return to Ju- 
daism ; but this statement is 
probably founded on report, 
and is in itself incredible. Sel- 
den has much praised the nar- 



rative of this writer, who is on 
the whole judicious and exact. 
But as he was the constant 
companion of Anselm, and at- 
tended that prelate in his ab- 
sence from England, whatever 
he has related of Rufus, at the 
least of the latter years of that 
prince's life, must be considered 
as resting on hearsay.] 



CKKT. XI. 



of Britain, 



S5 



25. Now was the time come of king William's a. d. 1087. 

death, ending his days in Normandy. But see the — '- 

unhappiness of all human felicity ; for his breath and of kin^ 
his servants forsook him both together; the latter ^^^' 
leaving him, as if his body should bury itself. How ^?*^9j^^ 
many hundreds held land of him in knights' service ! 
whereas now, neither knight nor esquire to attend 
him. At last, with much ado, his corpse are brought 
in mean manner to be interred in Caen. As they 
were prepared for the earth, a private person forbids 
the burial till satisfaction was made unto him, be- 
cause the king had violently taken from him that 
ground on which that church was erected. Doth 
not Solomon say true, A living dog is better than a 
dead lion^ when such a little cur durst snarl at the 
corpse of a king and a conqueror ? At last the monks 
of Caen made a composition, and the body was 
buried*. And as it was long before this king's corpse 
could get peaceable possession of a grave, so since, 
by a firm ejection, he hath been outed of the same. 
When French soldiers, anno Domini 1562, amongst 
whom some English were mingled, when Chastillion 
conducting the remnant of those which escaped in 
the battle of Dreux, took the city of Caen, in his 
way (out of pretence forsooth to seek for some trea- 



8 [Flor. Wigorn. a. 1087. 
Malmsb. f. 63. ** Corpus de- 
*' functum Cadomum per Se- 
*' quanam delatum magno prse- 
** latorum frequentia traditur 
«* sepulturse," Mat. Paris. 
an. 1087. p. 14. Robert, 
the Conqueror's eldest sod, 
was engaged in preparation 
for a war against his father, in 
France. Rufus, before his fa- 
ther expired, crossed over into 
England ; — to use the dry, sar- 



castic language of the chro- 
nicler just quoted — *' utiliorem 
" sibi earn profectionem fore 
** ducens in posterum, quam 
*' paternis exsequiis interesse." 
Henry Was the only son pre- 
sent at the funeral, who paid 
the soldier to whom the land 
belonged, where his father was 
interred, a hundred pounds, to 
protect the corpse from insult. 
Will, of Malmsbur. f. 63, b.] 

D 2 



36 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A. D. 1087. sure supposed to be hid in his tomb) most barba- 

21 1 rously and cowardly brake up his coffin, and cast his 

bones out of the same*. 
The three 26. William the Conqueror left three sons, Robert, 
Conqueror, William, and Henry : and, because hereditary sur- 
"Z^^ names were not yet fixed in families, they were thus 
denominated and distinguished : 

i. The eldest from his goods of fortune, to which 
clothes are reduced, Robert Curthose, from the short 
hose he wore, not only for fancy, but sometimes for 
need, cutting his coat according to his cloth: his 
means, all his life long, being scant and necessitous, 
ii. The second, from the goods of his body, viz. a 
ruddy complexion, William Rufiis, or Red. But, 
whether a lovely and amiable, or ireful and choleric 
red, the reader on perusal of his life is best able to 
decide. 

iii. The third, from the goods of his mind, and his 
rich abilities of learning, Henry Beauclerk, or, the 
good scholar". 

The middlemost of these, William Rufus, pre- 
suming on his brother Robert's absence in Normandy, 
and pretending his father got the crown by conquest, 
which by will he bequeathed unto him, (his eldest 
brother being then under a cloud of his father's dis- 
pleasure,) adventured to possess himself of the king- 
dom ^ 



t Stow's Chron. [p. 127.] 
u [He had another son named 
Richard^ born after Robert, a 
youth of great promise, who 
met his death hunting in the 
New Forest. Flor. Wigom. a. 
1 160. OrdericusVitali8,p. 573. 
Malmsb. f. 63, b. Mr. Ste- 
venson has printed from MSS. 
an epitaph on this prince, writ- 



ten by Selro, a contemporary. 
Scala Chronica, notes, p. 214.] 
V [M. Paris, a. 1086. p. 12. 
Gul. Neubrig. I. 2. According 
to William of Newbury the 
succession undoubtedly per- 
tained of right to Robert ; 
who was, however, according 
to the same testimony, incom- 
petent to the task of governing 



CBNT. XI. 



of Britain. 



87 



27. On the twenty-sixth of September, Landfranc a. d. 1087. 
archbishop of Canterbury, with good Wolstan, bishop 1^^ 
of Worcester, assisting him, crowned Rufns king of liam^Ruftw 
England, though but his father's second son^. And*^"""*^^' 
indeed the known policy of the former, and the re- 
puted piety of the latter, were the best supporters of 

his title. Jacob, we know, acted with a prophetical 
spirit, guiding his hands wittingly^, laid his right on 
Ephraim the younger, and his left on Manasseh the 
elder brother : but what warrant these bishops had 
to invert and transpose nature's method, by preferring 
the younger brother before the elder, was best known 
to themselves. Under Landfranc he had his edu- 
cation, who "made him a knight V' though it had 
been more proper for his tutor's profession, yea, and 
more for his credit, and his pupil's profit, if he (as 
the instrument) had made him a good Christian. 

28. He began very bountifully, but on another His covet- 
man's cost ; not as a donor, but a dealer thereof, and and^^n- 
executor of his father's will. To some churches he ''^^^^^ 
gave ten mark, to others six, to every country village 

five shillings, besides an hundred pound to every 



a large kingdom. De Rebus 
Angl. I. 3. Rufus was the 
favourite of his parents (Malms. 
De Pontif. f. 123, b.), was 
brought up by them with great 
care and attention, giving at a 
very early age tokens of great 
abi&ty. He would without 
doubt have been the most in- 
comparable prince of his time> 
had he not been eclipsed by 
his father's greatness; shew- 
ing the greatest anxiety to out- 
strip all his rivals in military 
exercises; careful in his obe- 
dience to his father, to whom 



he was attentive on all occa- 
sions; as anxious in war to 
draw his father's eyes upon 
him by feats of arms, as he 
was his constant companion in 
peace. Malmsb. De Gestis, f. 
t'j. b. His character is ad- 
mirably drawn by this Chro- 
nicler ; and may be trusted, as 
he was not prejudiced in favour 
of the Normans.] 

w [Flor. Wig. a. 1087.] 

X Gen. xlviii. 14. 

y Mat. Paris, a. 1087. p. 14. 
Malmsb. De Gestis, f. 67. b.] 

d3 



38 The Church History book hi. 

A. D. 1087. county, to be distributed among the poor*. But 

^afterward he proved most parsimonious, though no 

man more prodigal of never-performed promises. 
Indeed Rehoboam, though simple, was honest, speak- 
ing to his subjects, though foolishly, yet truly ac- 
cording to his intent, that his finger should be heavier 
than his father's loins^: whereas Rufus was false 
in his proceedings, who, on the imminence of any 
danger or distress, (principally to secure himself 
against the claim of his brother Robert,) instantly to 
oblige the English, promised them the releasing of 
their taxes, and the restoring of the English laws ; 
but, on the sinking of the present danger, his per- 
formance sunk accordingly ; no letter of the English 
laws restored, or more mention thereof, till the re- 
turning of the like state-storm occasioned the re- 
viving of his promise ; and alternately the clearing 
up of the one deaded the performance of the other^ 
A.D. 1089. 29. This year died Landfranc archbishop of Can- 
ing himself tcrbury ; after whose death the king seized the pro- 
Uving^^ fits of that see into his own hand, and kept the 
church vacant for some years ; knowing the emptiness 
of bishoprics caused the fulness of his coffers. Thus 
archbishop Rufus, bishop Rufiis, abbot Rufus, for so 
he may be called, as well as king RuAis ; keeping at 
the same time the archbishopric of Canterbury, the 
bishoprics of Winchester and Durham, and thirteen 
abbeys in his hand, brought a mass of money into 
his exchequer. All places which he parted with was 
upon present payment. Simon Magus with his 
hands full of money, would carry any thing from 

* Chronicon Johannis Brom- Wig. a. 1087.] 
ton, p. 983. [Malmsb. f. 63. b. a i Kings xii. 11. 
M, Paris, a. 1087. p. 14. Flor. b Malmsb. De Gestis, f. 68. 



CENT. XI. 



of Britain. 



39 



Simon Peter, with his silver and gold have I none^.A.D.ioSg. 

Yea, John bishop of Wells could not remove his 

seat to Bath, nisi cdbo ungiiento manibus regis deli- 

batis\ " unless he had moistened the king's hands 

" with white ointment ;** though a less proportion, 

of a yellow colour, would have been more sovereign 

to the same use. And picking a quarrel with Remi- 

gius bishop of Lincoln about the founding of his 

cathedral, he forced him to buy his peace at the 

price of a thousand marks®. 

30. But in the midst of his mirth, king Rufus, a. d. 1093. 

His sick- 
coming to Gloucester, fell desperately sick, andnessand 

began to bethink himself of his ill Jed life^. As allof amend^ 

aches and wounds prick and pain most the nearer it ^^^^ 

draweth to night, so a guilty conscience is most 

active to torment men the nearer they conceive 

themselves approaching to their death. Hereupon 

he resolveth to restore all ill-gotten goods, release all 



c Acts viii. 1 8. iii. 6. 

^ M. Paris, p. 1 7. [See the 
confirmation by Henry I. of 
this transfer, in Rymer I. 8. 
dated, 11 11.^ 

® [Durham was vacated in 
the year 1088, by William de 
Carilepho, who being guilty 
of treason, as it was alleged, 
was permitted to withdraw 
into Normandy. Mat. Paris. 
an. 1088. Landfranc died on 
the 24th of March 1089. For 
an account of his life, learning, 
and munificence, see Mat. Pa- 
ris, an. 1089, and the collective 
edition of his works and letters 
by Du Chesne, Paris, 1646, re- 
printed in the Bibliotheca Pa- 
trum, Lugd. tom. xviii. p. 62 1. 
The see of Canterbury was not 
again filled up till the year 



1092, when it was conferred 
upon Anselm (Mat. Paris, an. 
1092.), and the same year 
Robert Blois, chancellor, was 
promoted to the see of Lincoln, 
vacant the year before by the 
death of Remigius. This pre- 
late gave the king 500/. to se- 
cure the freedom of his church, 
which Thomas, the archbishop 
of York, had laid claim to, as 
having been built in his dio- 
cese. See Mat. Paris, an. 1085, 
1 09 1, 1092. But the king 
was grieved above measure, 
says this caustic chronicler, 
when he had recovered from 
his sickness, that he had given 
and not sold the bishopric] 

^ [M. Paris, a. 1092. p. 17. 
Malm. De Pontif. f. 124.] 

D 4 



40 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1093. persons unjustly imprisoned, and supply all empty 

places with able pastors. In pursuance hereof he 

made Anselm, (the abbot of Beck in Normandy,) 
one of eminent learning, and holiness of life, arch- 
bishop of Canterbury fi^; which place he was hardly 
persuaded, with much importunity, to accept. The 
first eminent act of his archiepiscopal office which 
we find was, when preaching at the court on Ash- 
Wednesday, he denied ashes and absolution to all 
those courtiers who affected effeminateness in their 
behaviour^; especially in wearing their hair long, 
and combed like women. A sin, no doubt; for 
whereas TertuUian calls the length of women's hair, 
sarcinam suce humilitatisy the same in men (so promis- 
cuously worn) may be called, sardna stue superbitB. 
Anseim's 31. There passeth a memorable expression of An- 
questioned. solm's. Cried up and commended by some for a 
masterpiece of devotion, namely, " that he had rather 



& [The grant is in Rymer, 1. 5 . 
Like his predecessor Landfranc, 
Anselm was an Italian : one of 
the best scholars and authors of 
his time ; and, what was some- 
what unusual in those times^ 
was chiefly indebted to his 
mother for his education (Joan. 
Sarisbur. p. 155.)' See an ac- 
count of him in Orderic.Vitalis, 
p. 531. Will, of Malmsb. de 
Pontif. f. 123. More complete 
narratives of this eminent pre- 
late will be found in his life 
composed by Eadmer, his fa- 
miliar friend and constant com- 
panion, (and published in the 
collective edition of Anseim's 
works, by Gerberon, Paris, 
1675.) and by John of Salis- 
bury in Wharton's Ang. Sac. 
II. 149. Nothing can exceed 



the piety of Anseim's devo- 
tional works.] 

h Eadmerus, H. N. p. 23. 
[Malmsbury observes the same 
of Wulstan, the primitive bi- 
shop of Worcester ; who used 
with his own hands to poll 
the heads of those who would 
submit to it. For which pur- 
pose he kept a little knife, 
which also served him for 
trimming his nails or cleaning 
his books. Those who would 
not submit to the operation he 
lectured for their effeminacy, 
and openly threatened them 
with God's judgment. Vita 
Wulstani in Ang. Sac. II. 254. 

In another place this chro- 
nicler complains bitterly of the 
corruption and effeminacy of 
the times. De Gestis, f. 69. b.] 



CENT. XI. of Britain, 41 

" be in hell without sm, than in heaven with sin^;" a.d. 1093. 

which others condemn as an unsavoury speech, " not 

" according to scripture phrase, as from one not suf- 
" ficiently acquainted with the justification of a 
** Christian man^." Indeed, some high-flown ex- 
pressions often knock at the door of blasphemy, but 
yet not with any intention to enter in thereat ; in 
which we are more to mind the sense than the 
sound of the words. Amongst those may this of 
Anselm's be ranked, uttered no doubt in a zealous 
detestation of sin ; yea, which charitably may be de- 
fended in the very letter thereof. For Adam, we 
know, was some while in paradise (heaven's suburbs) 
after the eating of the forbidden fruit^, yet was sen- 
sible of no pleasure therein, which made him hide 
himself, as prosecuted by his guilty conscience : and 
some of the ancients conceive that Christ went 
locally to hell, yet no pain did seize on him there, 
seeing sorrow can arrest none but at the suit of sin 
going before. 

32. But, to leave Anselm*s words, let us come to Anseim re- 
his deeds : who was scarce warm m his arch- send king 
bishopric, when the king sent to him for a thousand J^^* 
pound ; which sum, being so small in itself, (Rufiis 
usually demanding more of less bishoprics,) and that 
after his entrance on his see, free from any pre- 
contract, might have passed without the suspicion of 
simony, imder the notion of a mere gratuity*. How- 
ever, Anseim refused to pay it, because he would 

i [Joan. Sarisbur. vit. An- first cause of their quarrel was 

selmi, p. 157.] the refusal of Anseim to con- 

JFoir,Act8andMon.I.p.24o. firm to the king certain lands 

k Gen. iii. belonging to the see of Can- 

1 [|Mat. Paris^ an. 1094. terbury, which the king had 

Joan. Sarisbur. ib. p. 163. The alienated.] 



4S The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1093. avoid the appearance of evil. Others say™, that he 
-i^!!!!!!L freely sent the king five hundred pounds, with this 
compliment ; that though it was the first, it should 
not be the last he would present to his majesty: 
which the king in choler refused, because short to 
the sum he expected. Indeed, RuAis only retained 
this of all his archiepiscopal education, (being bred 
under Landfranc, as is aforesaid,) that thereby he ex- 
perimentally knew the .sweetness of church prefer- 
ments ; and in his bargain and sale set a rate upon 
them accordingly, being after his recovery from his 
sickness far more sordid and sacrilegious than before. 
A.D. 1094. 33. Amongst the many simoniacal prelates that 
bishop of swarmed in the land, Herbert bishop of Thetford 
Ws^c^' must not be forgotten; nicknamed (or sumamed 
niacai flat- gjjg^ij J g^y ^ Losifig^ that is, the Flatterer ; our old 

English word leasing for l^ing retains some affinity 
thereunto, and at this day we call an insinuating fellow 
a ghzing companion. Though the best persuasive- 
ness of his flattery consisted in downright arguments 
of gold and silver. For, guilty of the hereditary sin of 
simony, his father having formerly bought the abbey 
of Ramsey, he purchased the bishopric of Thetford of 
the king. But afterward he posted to Rome, con- 
fessed his fault, and was absolved from the guilt 
thereof. Thus, as the leprosy of Naaman was washed 
away in Jordan, so that his flesh came again as the 
flssh of a little child^ and he was chan^, so this bishop 
was persuaded that all his simoniacal corruption was 
cleansed in this his holy pilgrimage, conceiving him- 

^ Eadmerus, H. N. p. 21. chasing the dukedom of Nor- 

[This sum was not for his bi- mandy. Malm, de Pont. f. 125. 

shopric^ but sent subsequently Mat. Paris> ibid.] 

on occasion of the king's pur- ^ 2 Kings v. 14. 



CENT. XI. of Britain. 4S 

self henceforward to begin on a new account of in-A.D. 1094- 
tegrity, especially having, after his return, removed ^ " *' 
his episcopal seat from Thetford to Norwich**, where 
he first founded the cathedral. 

84. Wolstan, the venerable bishop of Worcester, a. d. 1095. 
left this life. A bishop of the old edition, un- bishop of 
acquainted with Landfranc's Italian additions; notdi^T***' 
faulty in his conversation, but country, because an 
Englishman bom. It was laid to his charge that he 
could not speak French, (no essential quality in a 
bishop, as St. Paul describes himP,) sure I am he 
could speak the language of Canaan, humble, holy, 
heavenly discourse. A mortified man much mace- 
rating his body with fasting and watching, if not 
overacting his part, and somewhat guilty of will- 
worship therein*!. 

35. About this time began the holy war, which Duke Ro- 
here we will not repeat, having formerly made an pares^fop 
entfa-e work thereof. Robert duke of Normandy, to J^^?'^^ 
fit himself for that voyage, sold his dukedom to king 
William Rufus for ten thousand mark, say some ; for 
six thousand six hundred sixty-six pounds, that is, 
one mark less, say others; haply abating the odd 
mark, to make up the rotundity of so sacred and 
mystical a number. To pay this money, king Rufus 
laid a general and grievous tax over all the realm, 
extorting it with such severity, that the monks were 
fain to sell the church plate and very chalices for 
discharging thereof*". Wonder not that the whole 

o [April 13th, 1094. Mat. H. N. p. 35, are very remark- 
Paris^ an. 1094.] able: " Quae pecunia per An- 

P I Tim. iii. 2^ &c. Tit. i. 6^ '' gliam partim data partim 

&:c. ** exacta totum regnum in im- 

q [Mat. Paris, an. T095.] *' mensum vastavit. Nihil ec- 

r [The words of Eadmer, *' clesiarum ornamentis in hac 



44 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1095, land should be impoverished with the pajring of so 

^ small a sum ; for a little wool is a great deal when 

it must be taken from a new-shorn sheep : so pilled 
and polled were all people before with constant 
exactions. Such whom his hard usage forced beyond 
the seas were recalled by his proclamation ; so that 
his heavy levies would not suffer them to live here, 
and his hard laws would not permit them to depart 
hence. And when the clergy complained unto him 
to be eased of their burdens, " I beseech you," said 
he, " have ye not coffins of gold and silver for dead 
" men's bones?" intimating that the same treasure 
might otherwise be better employed. 

86. The streams of discord began now to swell 
high betwixt the king and archbishop Anselm ; 
flowing principally from this occasion®. At this time 
there were two popes together, so that the eagle 
with two heads, the arms of the empire, might now 
as properly have fitted the papacy for the present. 
Of these, the one (Guibertus) I may call the lay 
pope, because made by Henry the emperor; the 
other (Urban) the clergy-pope, chosen by the con- 
clave of cardinals*. Now, because like unto like. 



Variance 
between 
the king 
and An- 
selm. 



i< 



€* 



CC 



'' parte indulsit dominandi cu- 
" piditas^ nihil sacris altarium 
vasis^ nihil reliquiarum cap- 
sis, nihil Euangeliorum libris 
auro vel argento paratis." 
Malmsbury gives an illnstration 
of this ; he says, that in his own 
monastery the abbot stripped 
off in one day the gold and 
silver ornaments from twelve 
copies of the Gospel, eight 
crosses^ eight scrinia, in which 
were contained the ashes of di- 
vers saints. See De Pontif. 
V. p. 377. ed. Gale.] 



s [Eadmer, H. N. p. 25. 
Mat. Paris, ib. Joan. Sarisbur. 

164.] 
t [Of this dispute between 

the popes, see Mat. Paris in 
the years 1084, 1086, 1087, 
1089^ 1094. Hildebrand, who 
assumed the name of Gregory 
VII. ^ was deposed in the year 
1083, and Guibert, who as- 
sumed the name of Clement, 
was appointed in his steady by 
the influence of the emperor. 
The cardinals^ disgusted with 
this interference^ nominated 



CENT. XI. 



of Britain. 



45 



kinsr William sided with the former, whilst Anselm a. d. 1095. 

8 Rufus. 

as earnestly adhered to Urban in his aflfections, de '- 

siring to receive his pall from him, which the king 
refused to permit**. Hereupon Anselm appealed to 
his pope, whereat king William was highly of- 
fended v. 

37. But, because none are able so emphatically to Thdr se- 
tell their stories and plead their causes as themselves, ings, and 
take them in their own words : S^^e- 



ment. 



The king objected: 

" The custom from my 
'^ father's time hath been in 
" England, that no person 
" should appeal to the pope, 
** without the king's license. 
" He that breaketh the cus- 
" toms of my realm, vio- 
•' lateth the power and 
'* crown of my kingdom. 
'^ He that violateth and 



Anselm answered: 

" The Lord hath discussed this 
question. Give unto Casar the 
things that are C(Bsar*s, and 
'* unto God the things that are 
" God's, In such things as be- 
" long to the terrene dignities of 
" temporal princes, I will pay my 
*' obedience ; but Christ said, 
Thou art Peter, and upon this 
rock I will build my church, 



tt 



t€ 



tc 



(C 



Desiderius, abbot of Cassini, 
to the popedom^ under the 
name of Victor. But he dying 
shortly after, Otho, a Cluniac 
monk, bishop of Ostia^ was ap- 
pointed to succeed him^ as- 
suming the name of Urban H.] 

^ [[Eadmer attributes the 
siding of Anselm with Urban, 
to the fact of this pope having 
been previously acknowledged 
by ItaJy and France ; and An- 
selm was a Norman^ formerly 
abbot of Bee. Hist. Novorum. 
p. 25. Anselm himself urges 
the same argument in his 
speech at the synod of Rocking- 
ham, where the question of in- 
vestiture was debated. lb. p. 26. 

It is worthy of notice, that 



Urban II., by the suggestion 
of Anselm, passed an act at a 
council at Rome, that all lay- 
men who conferred investiture 
(laicos investituros ecclesiarum 
more pristino conferentes), and 
that all ecclesiastics who re- 
ceived investiture from laymen 
should be excommunicated. 
Mat. Paris, an. 1094. Joan. Sa- 
risbur. p. 167.] 

v-[In this Anselm was op- 
posed by all the bishops, ex- 
cept the bishop of Rochester, 
a Norman, his personal friend, 
who had studied with Anselm 
in the monastery of Bee in 
Normandy. See Vita Gundulfi 
episc. Roffens. in Ang. Sac. II. 
p. 280.] 



46 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1095. *' taketh away my crown, '* &c. Whose vicar he ought to 

8 Rufiis. «( jg ^ traitor and enemy " obey in spiritual matters, and 

'* against me." " the fetching of his pall was of 

" that nature ^." 

At last an expedient was found out, that Anselm 
should not want his pall, nor fetch it himself from 
Rome, being by the king's consent brought to him 
by Gualter, pope Urban's legate, (whom the king at 
last was fain to acknowledge,) and so all things for 
the present reconciled*. 
Theydis- 38. But the wouud bctwixt them was rather 
agree again, gj^^^^^ over than perfectly healed ; and afterwards 

brake out again, the king taking occasion of dis- 
pleasure at Anselm's backwardness to assist him in 
his expedition into Wales^. Whereupon Anselm 
desired a second journey to Rome, there to bemoan, 
and probably to relieve himself by complaint to the 
pope. But the king stopped his voyage, affirming 
that Anselm had led so pious a life, he need crave 
no absolution at Rome ; and was so well stored with 
learning, that he needed not to borrow any counsel 
there. Yea, said the king, " Urban had rather give 
" place to the wisdom of Anselm, than Anselm have 
" need of Urban." In fine, after much contesting, 
Anselm secretly stole out of the realm, and the king 
seized all his goods and lands into his own coffers^. 
Three years was he in exile, sometimes at Lyons, 
sometimes at Rome ; welcome wheresoever he came, 
and very serviceable to the church by his pious 
living, painful preaching, learned writing, and solid 

w [From Malmsb. De Pont. y [Eadmer,H. N. p. 37-41.] 

f . 1 24. b. Mat. Paris, ib. Joan. 2 [Kather he demanded leave 

Sarisbur. ib. 164. Eadmer> ib.] to depart a third time, and de- 

* [Eadmer, H. N. p. 32. parted openly. Joan. Sarisb. 

Joan. Sarisb. ib.] ^65.] 



CENT. XI. 



of Britain. 



47 



disputing, especially in the general council of Bar", a. D. 1095. 

where he was very useful in confiiting and condemn- " 

ing the errors of the Greek church about the pro- 
cession of the Holy Spirit^. 

39. King Rufus was a hunting in New Forest, a.d.i 100. 
which was made by king William his father ; not so his death, 
much out of pleasure or love of the game, as policy 
to clear and secure to himself a fair and large land- 
ing-place for his forces out of Normandy, if occasion 
did require. Here then was a great devastation of 
towns and temples ; the place being turned into a 
wilderness for men, to make a paradise for deer. 
God seemed displeased hereat; for (amongst other 
tragedies of the Conqueror's family acted in this 
place) Rufiis was here slain by the glancing of an 
arrow shot by sir Walter Tirrel*^. An unhappy name 
to the kings of England ; this man casually, and an- 
other wilfiilly (sir James Tyrrel employed in the 
murdering of king Edward the Fifth) having their 



a [Joan. Sarisbur. p. 167. 
See a treatise upon this sub- 
ject by Anselm, Opera, p. 49. 
Ed. G. Gerberon. Par.] 

^ [Malm. ib. f. 127.] 

c [Doubts existed respecting 
the cause of his death at a 
very early period : for John of 
Salisbury states, that in his 
own time it was unknown who 
had shot the arrow by which 
the king perished. Sir Walter 
Tyrrell, he says, who is ac- 
cused by many of being the 
author of the king's death, 
because he was very intimate 
with him, and was near him in 
the hunt, solemnly protested, 
on his hopes of salvation, that 
he was guiltless of that deed. 



Many persons thought that the 
king himself had shot the ar- 
row which caused his death, or 
that he stumbled and fell upon 
it, as Tyrrell constantly af- 
firmed, although his assertions 
were not credited. Eadmer, 
H. N. p. 54. Joan. Sarisbur. 
p. 170. 

This is confirmed by a writer 
quoted in Selden*s notes upon 
Eadmer, p. 205. See also 
Orsler, Vitalis Hist. Eccl. p. 
783. ed. Duchesne. 

One of the same name (pro- 
bably the same person) is men. 
tioned by John of Salisbury as 
entertaining archbishop An- 
selm. Vita Anselmi, p. 157.] 



48 The. Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1 100. hands in royal blood. Now it is seasonably remem- 

'- bered, that some years since this king William had 

a desperate disease, whereof he made but bad use 
after his recovery ; and therefore now divine justice 
would not the second time send him the summons of 
a solemn visitation by sickness, but even surprised 
him by a sudden and unexpected death. 
His burial, 40. Thus died king William Rufiis, leaving no 
racter. issue, and was buried, saith my author ^ at Win- 
chester, multorum procerum conventUy paticorum vera 
planctu ; many noblemen meeting, but few mourning 
at his funerals. Yet some, who grieved not for his 
death, grieved at the manner thereof; and of all 
mourners Anselm, though in exile in France, ex- 
pressed most cordial sorrow at the news of his death. 
A valiant and prosperous prince, but condemned by 
historians for covetousness, cruelty, and wantonness, 
though no woman by name is mentioned for his con- 
cubine ; probably, because thrifty in his lust, with 
mean and obscure persons. But let it be taken into 
serious consideration, that no pen hath originally 
written the life of this king, but what was made by 
a monkish penknife ; and no wonder, if his picture 
seem bad, which was drawn by his enemy. And he 
may be supposed to fare the worse for his opposition 
to the Romish usurpation ; having this good quality, 
to suffer none but himself to abuse his subjects, 
stoutly resisting all payments of the pope's imposing. 
Yea, as great an enemy as he was conceived to the 
church, he gave to the monks called De Charttate^ 
the great new church of St. Saviour's in Bermondsey, 

<i John Bromton^ p. 997. [Eadmer, H. N. p. 54. M. Paris, 
a. 1 100. p. 38,] 



CENT. XI. 



of Britain. 



49 



with the manor thereof, as also of Charlton inA.D. uoo. 
Kent«. '3 ^"^' 

41. Henry Beauclerk his brother succeeded him Henry the 
in the throne, one that crossed the common proverb, ceedeA Ru- 
The greatest clerks are not the wisest men, being ^^^** 
one of the most profoundest scholars^, and most 
politic princes in his generation. He was crowned 



« [Though the vices of this 
king have probably been exag- 
gerated by the monkish chroni- 
clers, to whose order he sliowed 
himself no friend^ it is certain 
that he was guilty of the gross- 
est avarice and extortion^ par- 
ticularly in reference to the 
church. (See Gul. Neubrigens. 

I. 2.) 

At his death he held in his 
own hands the see of Canter- 
bury, of Winchester, and Sa- 
rum ; twelve abbies he had 
either sold or &rmed (injir^ 
mam dahat), or held in his own 
possession. (Mat. Paris^ an. 
uoo. Chron. Waverl. p. 142, 
ed. Grale.) Besides these acts 
of injustice, he scrupled at no 
violence in levying the money 
which he had engaged to give 
his brother for his dukedom. 
See above, p. 43. Eadmer, 
H. N. p. 35. In this eager 
pursuit of money^ he spared 
no class of persons, much less 
the monastic bodies ; he scru- 
tinized the charters and privi- 
leges of the different mona- 
steries, subjected them to taxes 
and the temporal sword, and 
withstood the aggressions of 
the monks with a spirit even 

f eater than his father*s. See 
admer, ib. p. 14. William of 
Mahnsb. f. 6*], 

Another cause which pro- 

FULLEB, VOL. II. 



voked their hostility against 
him was his love of jesting; 
frequently meeting a serious 
charge or petition with a joke. 
When Anselm first came over 
into England, upon some busi- 
ness connected with his abbey 
in Normandy, he expostu- 
lated with the king upon his 
conduct, who turned it off 
with a laugh, saying, that he 
could not prevent the licen- 
tiousness of people's tongues, 
and that a wise man like An. 
selm should not give credit to 
vulgar reports. When some 
one had stated in his presence 
that Anselm was the only man 
of his time who had no am- 
bition for place or distinction ; 
" What," said the king with a 
smile, *• not care for the arch- 
'* bishopric of Canterbury ? " 
When this also was denied, he 
said that Anselm would struggle 
hand and foot if he could get 
the least chance of obtaining 
the archbishopric. ** But," he 
continued, " by the face of St. 
'' Luke, (his usual oath,) he 
'' and all his competitors must 
** give way, I shall be arch- 
" bishop of Canterbury for 
" this turn." M&lmsb. De 
Pontif. p. 123. b.] 

f [_*' Well seen in the seven 
liberal sciences." Grafton, p. 

32.] 



50 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1100. about four days after his brother's death. At that 
*^ time the present providing of good swords was ac- 

counted more essential to a king's coronation than 
the long preparing of gay clothes. Such pre- 
paratory pomp as was used in after-ages at this 
ceremony, was now conceived not only useless, but 
dangerous, speed being safest to supply the vacancy 
of the throne. To ingratiate himself to the English, 
he instantly and actually repealed (for his brother 
William had put all the land out of love and liking 
of fair promises) the cruel Norman laws. Laws 
written in blood, made more in favour of deer than 
of men ; more to manifest the power and pleasure of 
the imposer, than for the good and protection of the 
subject ; wherein sometimes men's mischances were 
punished for their misdeeds. Yea, in a manner 
king Henry gave eyes to the blind in winter nights ; 
I mean, light to them who formerly lived (though in 
their own houses) in uncomfortable darkness after 
eight o'clock ; when heretofore the curfew bell did 
ring the knell of all the fire and candle-light in 
English families. But now these rigorous edicts 
were totally repealed ; the good and gentle laws of 
Edward the Confessor generally revived fi^; the late 
king's extorting publicans (whereof Ranulf Flambard 
bishop of Durham the principal) closely imprisoned ; 



8r [See the Charter of Liber- 
ties granted by Henry I. in 
Mat. Paris^ ibid., and in the 
Authentic Collection of the 
Statutes. He was driven to 
these concessions from fear of 
his brother Robert. On the 
death of Rufus a diversion 
was contemplated in favour 
of Robert ; to prevent which. 



Henry invited Anselm into 
England, who by his per- 
sonal influence gained over 
many of the discontented no- 
bles to Henry's side. On one 
occasion, when Robert had 
landed in England, and many 
were meditating a revolt, An- 
selm harangued the people 
from an eminence. He pro- 



CENT. XI. <»f Britain. 51 

the court coniiption, by the king's command, stu-A.D. uoo. 
diously reformed; adultery (then grown common) ^ 
with the loss of virility severely punished ; Anselm 
from exile speedily recalled ; after his return, by the 
king heartily welcomed ; by the clergy solemnly and 
ceremoniously received ; he to his church ; his lands 
and goods to him fully restored ; English and Nor- 
mans lovingly reconciled ; all interests and persons 
seemingly pleased ; Robert, the king's elder brother 
(though absent in the Holy Land) yet scarcely missed ; 
and so this century, with the first year of king 
Henry's reign, seasonably concluded^. 

mised in the Raine of tbe king pletely, that Robert was coni- 

redress of all the injuries and pelled to sue for peaee. Malms^ 

evil government which they De Pontif. f. 127.] 
had suffered under Rufus ; and ^ [See Malmsb. f. 88.] 
gained over the people so com- 



£ 2 



THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 



JOHANNI FITZJAMES, 

DE LEtJSTON, IN COM. DORSET. ARMIO.i 

Non desunt in hoc nostra acecnlo, qui librorum dedicationeg 
pene ducunt mperslUiosum, plane superfiuum ; sic entm 
argululi ratiocinaiitur. Liber, si bonus, Patrono non 
indiget, suo marie pergat ; sin malus, Patrono ne sit 
dedecori, suo merito pereat. 

Habeo tamen quod huic dilemmati possim regerere. Liber 
mens, nee bonus nee malus, sed quiddam medium inter 
utrumque. Sonum, ipse non ausum pronuntiare, cum 
plurimis mendis labaret ; malum, alii spero non d0u- 
dicenl, cum legentihus possit esse usui. 

Sub hoc dubia conditione, vet adversariis nostrisjudicibus, 
opus hoc nostrum, Pntronum sibi asciscere, et potest et 
debet , et sub alts clienteltE tuce qui tarn Marte prcBstas 
quam Mercurio, foveri serio triumphat. 

\ RAVE ANSELM, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, espoused and married Maud 
(daughter of Malcolm king of the 
Scots, and St. Margaret his wife) to 
Henry king of England. She had been 
a professed votary, and was pressed by the impor- 

B [Anna. Azure. A dolphin part of the Temple churcfa, 

embowed. Argent. John Pitz- London, where a gravestone 

James of Lewaton, county Dor- waa inscribed to his memory. 

set, esq., was son and heir to Sir John himself died soon 

Lewston Fitzjames, esq., by his after, as an act was passed 33 

wife Eleanor, daughter of sir Car. II. to enable his two 

Henry Winston, of Standish, daughters and coheiresses to 

county Gloucester, knight. He alienate part of the property. 

was descended of an ancient The bulk of his estate went to 

family long seated at Lewston, his daughter Grace, wife of sir 

which they inherited from a fe- George Strode, whose repre- 

male ancestor of that name. At sentative is the present duke 

the Restoration he received the of Northumberland, B. See 

honour of knighthood, 9 July, Lloyd's Worthies, I. 1 25, for 

1660. His only son, John Fitz- some account of the ancestors 

janies, dying in 1669, vUa pa- of this family.] 
tris, was buried in the circular 




CBNT. XII. The Church History of Britain. 



58 



tunity of her parents and friends, for politic ends, toA.D.i.oi. 
this marriage; insomuch as in the bitterness of l^er I^^lL 
sbuly (able to appal the writer hereof, seeing his ink 
out-blacked with her expression,) she devoted the 
fruit of her body to the devil, because they would 
not permit her to perform her promise of virginity. 
Thus Matthew Paris ^. But the reader reserveth his 
other ear for the relation of Eadmerus, reporting 
this story after a different, yea contrary manner, as 
followeth : 

2. The aforesaid Maud, when a girl, lived under The story 
the tuition and correction of Christian her aunt, and ^^by*** 
abbess of Wilton, at what time the Norman soldiers Eadmerus, 
conquering the kingdom, did much destroy, and s^O an eye 
more endanger virgins by their violence. Christian :;S'«r 
therefore to preserve this her niece, clapped a black 
cloth on her head, in imitation of a nun's veil, 
which she imwillingly ware in the presence of her 
axmt, but in her absence off it went from above her 
head to imder her heels; so that in a despiteful 
manner, she used to tread and trample upon it. Yea, 
if Malcolm her father chanced to behold her wearing 
that mock veil, with rage he would rend it off, 
cursing the causers of it, and avowing that he in- 
tended her no votary, but a wife to count Alan. 
Besides, two grave archdeacons, sent down to Wilton 



^ Anno iioi. p. 58. [The 
account of Mat. Paris^ and the 
expression attributed to Ma- 
tilda, seem much more in ac- 
cordance with her character 
as described by Malmsbury, 
than is that of Eadmer> who 
was probably desirous of re- 
moving any thing like scandal 
from the conduct of his patron 



Anselm^ which would in such 
an age have attached to any 
who should venture to persuade 
a nun^ even had she not regu- 
larly taken the veil, to leave 
her holy retirement, and ap- 
pear again in the world. 

Matilda's character is ex- 
tremely well drawn by Malms- 
bury, f. 93.] 

E 3 



64 The Church HUtory book hi. 

A.D. iioi.to inquire into the matter reported, that for ought 
^ they could learn jfrom the nuns there, this Maud was 

never solemnly entered into their order. Hereupon 
a council was called of the English clergy, wherein 
some grave men attested of their own knowledge, 
that at the Norman conquest, to avoid the fiiry of 
the soldiery, many maids out of fear, not affection ; 
for protection, not piety ; made a cloister their re- 
fuge, not their choice ; were mms in their own de- 
fence, running their heads (but without their hearts) 
into a veil. And in this case it was resolved by 
learned Landfranc, that such virgins were bound by 
an extraordinary obligation above other women, 

Debitam casfitati reverentiam exhibere, 
Nullam religionis continenUam servare^* 

which is in effect, that they must be chaste wives, 
though they need not be constant maids. These 
things being alleged and proved, Anselm pronounced 
the nunship of Maud of none effect, and solemnly 
married her to king Henry. However, some infer 
the unlawfulness of this match, from the unhappiness 
of their children, all their issue male coming to im- 
timely deaths. But sad events may sometimes be 
improved by men's censures, further than they were 
intended by God's justice : and it is more wisdom 
seriously to observe them to the instructing of our- 
selves, than rigidly to apply them to the condemning 
of others. The rather, because Maud the empress, 

c Eadmer, H,N. p. 57, 58. " manifestae rei ostensione a- 

[The passage in Eadmer, which "mare testatse fuerant, debi- 

Fuller has thus strangely mis- *' tam fiiagis revereDtiam judi- 

apprehended, stands thus : *'At "Jcaret exhibendam, quam ul. 

'* ipse [Lanfrancus] qusestio- " lam servandse religionis con. 

" nem ipsam consilio generalis " tinentiam^ nisi propria illam 

" concilii taliter solvit, ut eis, " voluntate appeterent, violen- 

'* pro castitate quam se tam " ter ingerendam." 



CENT. XII. of Britain. ^ 

their sole surviving child, seemed by her happiness a. d.i 102. 
to make reparation for the infelicity of all the rest. 1-1 

3. Next year a more solemn synod was summoned a grand 
by Anselm, with the king's consent, held at West- dergy and 
minster; whereat, besides bishops, were present Bi^J^^^ 
Anselm's request, from the king, the chief lay lords ^^ 
of the land ; and this reason rendered : " Forasmuch 
" as that whatsoever should be determined by the 
" authority of the said council, might be ratified and 
" observed by the joint care and solicitousness of 
" both estates^." But whether the lords were present 
as bare spectators and witnesses to attest the fair 
transaction of matters, (which some will conceive 
too little,) or whether they had a power to vote 
therein, (which others will adjudge too much,) is not 
clearly delivered. Here we insert the institutions 
of this synod. And let none say that it is vain to 
look after the cobwebs, when the besom of reforma- 
tion hath swept them away ; seeing the knowledge 
of them conduces much to the understanding of 
that age®. 

i. That the heresy of simony be severely punished, 
for which several abbots were then and there de- 
posed. 

ii. That bishops undertake not the office of secular 
pleas, wearing an habit beseeming religious persons, 
and not be like laymen in their garments ; and that 
always, and everywhere, they have honest persons 
witnesses of their conversation. 

iii. That no archdeaconries be let out to farm. 

d [Malm. De Pontif. f. 129. cisions of the council of Cler- 

b.] mont in Auvergne, at which 

e Eadmer, H. N. p. 67, 68. Urban presided in the year 

[Most of these injunctions are 1095. The sum of them will 

merely a repetition of the de- be found in M. Paris, p. 15.] 

E 4 



56 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1 103. 
3 Hen. i . 



iy. That all archdeacons be deacons. 

V. That no archdeacon, priest, deacon, or canon' 

marry a wife, or retain one being married unto him : 

and that every sub-deacon, who is not a canon, if he 

have married after his profession made of chastity, 

be bound by the same rule. 

Hear what a grave author, almost of the same age, saith of 
this constitution. Quod quibusdam mundissimum visum 
estf quibusdam pericuhsum^ ne dum munditias viribus 
majores [sacerdote8'\ appeterentf in immunditias horri- 
biles ad Christiani nominis summum dedecus inci- 
derents. And as Jordan wanting a vent or influx (like 
other rivers) into the ocean, loseth its current at last in 
a filthy lake, or dead sea of its own making, so it was 
to be feared that these men, now debarred that remedy 
for their weakness, which God, who best knew the 
constitution of his own creatures, hath provided, set- 
tled themselves in some unclean ways, and most mortal 
filthiness occasioned by this prohibition. 

vi. That a priest so long as he keeps unlawful con- 
versation with a woman (understand his own wife) is 



' AHter being canonical. 

S Henricus Huntindon, Hist, 
f. 217. [The words of Mat- 
thew Paris, a. 1074. p. 9, 
otherwise no enemy of the 
popes, on this policy of Gre- 
gory VII., deserve attention: — 
*' uxoratos sacerdotes a divino 
" removit [Gregorius] officio^ 
^' et laicis missas eorum audire 
•' interdixit^ novo exemplo et, . 
" ut multis visum est, inconsi- 
*• derato judicio, contra sane- 
" torum patrum sententiam." 
— — '^ Ex qua re, tarn grave 
'* oritur scandalum, ut nullius 
" haresis tempore, sancta ec- 
" clesia graviori sit schismate 

•' discissa" *^ Ad haec, hac 

*^ opportunitate laicis insur- 



" gentibus contra sacros ordi- 
'^ nes, et se ab omni ecclesia- 
" stica subjectione excutienti- 
" bus, laid sacra mysteria te- 
" merant, et de his disputant ; 
^' infantes baptizant, sordido 
" aurium humore pro sacro 
'^ chrismate utentes et oleo ; 
" in extremo vitae viaticum do- 
*' minicum et usitatum eccle- 
^* sise obsequum sepulturie, a 
** presbyteris uxoratis acci- 
'* pere parvipendunt. Decimas 
'' etiam presbyteris debitas, 
" igne cremant^ corpus Domini 
*' a presbyteris uxoratis conse- 
" cratum pedibus saepe con- 
" culcant, et sanguinem Do- 
^^ mini voluntarie frequenter 
'^ in terram effundunt." 



CENT. XII. of Britain, 67 

not legal, nor rightly celebrateth the mass; nor isA.D. noa. 
his mass to be heard if he celebrate it. ^ ^' '' 

Tii. That none be admitted to the order of sub- 
deacon, or upwards, without the profession of 
chastity. 

viii. That the sons of priests be not made heirs to 
the church of their fathers. 

ix. That no clerks be provosts or proctors of secular 

matters, or judges in blood. 

This is the reason, saith the Appendix to Harpsfield^, 
(reporting is no approving of his judgment,) why 
bishops being arraigned for their lives, are not to be 
- tried by their peers, but by a jury of ordinary men ; 
because debarred by their canons to be judges of lay- 
peers in like cases, and therefore it was conceived un- 
fitting that they should receive that honour which they 
could not return. 

X. That priests should not go to public drinkings, 
nee ad pinnas bihant, nor drink at pins. 

This was a Dutch trick (but now used in England) of 
artificial drunkenness, out of a cup marked with cer- 
tain pins, and he accounted the man who could nick 
the pin, drinking even unto it ; whereas to go above or 
beneath it was a forfeiture^. 

xi. That the garments of clergymen be of one 
colour, and their shoes according to order. 

xii. That monks and clerks that have cast off their 
order, either return thereto or be excommunicated. 



^ Hist. Ecd. p. 746. cessive drinking which was 

^ Hence prohably the pro- common in his days^ he ordered 

verb^ He is in a merry pin. It little studs of gold or silver to 

seems to me that this custom be fastened in the different 

was of an earlier date, and owed drinking vessels^ to which^ and 

its origin to an order of St. no further, the monks were per- 

Danstan* To prevent the ex- mitted to drink. Malms, f. 3 1 •] 



58 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. iioa. xiii. That clerks have crowns patent, so that their 
'— shaving be conspicuous to the beholder. 

xiv. That tithes be given to none but to churches. 

XV. That churches or prebends be not bought. 

xvi. That new chapels be not made without the 
consent of the bishop. 

xvii. That no church be consecrated until neces- 
saries be provided for the priest and church. 

xviii. That abbots make no knights, and that they 

eat and sleep in the same house with their monks, 

except some necessity forbid. 

It appeareth it was the ancient custom of abbots in this age 
to make knights. Thus Brando^, the abbot of St. Ed- 
round's-bury, knighted Hereward his nephew, having 
first confessed his sins, and received absolution. Indeed 
in those days men^s minds were so possessed, that they 
thought nothing well and fortunately done, but what 
came from churchmen. Whereupon he that was to be 
made a knight first o£Pered his sword upon the altar, 
and after the Gospel read, the priest put the sword first 
hallowed upon the knight'^s neck with his benedicium\ 
and so having heard mass again, and received the 
sacrament, he became a lawful knight. And seeing 
the holy war now was begun, no wonder if churchmen 
made knights : and that age conceived that a knight^s 
sword dipped in holy water was well tempered, and 
became true metal indeed. Why abbots were now pro- 
hibited to confer this honour, the cause is not ren- 
dered ; whether because it made knighthood too con- 
mon, or that this privilege was reserved only for higher 
prelates, such as bishops and archbishops were, or that 
it was an encroachment upon the royal dignity, it being 
as proper for kings to ordain priests, as for abbots to 
dub knights. This is most sure, that notwithstanding 

k Inguifus, f. 5 1 2. b. 1 Camden's Brit. p. 1 26. 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 69 

this canon^ king Henry the First some years after a. D. 1 102. 
granted, and king John confirmed to the abbot of ^ ^^- '• 
Reading the power of knighting persons, with some 
cautions of their behaviour therein"*. 

xix. That monks enjoin no penance to any, with- 
out pennission of their abbot, and that only to such 
persons whereof they have cure of souls. 

XX. That monks and nuns be not godfathers or 
godmothers. 

xxi. That monks hold no lands in farm, 
xxii. That monks take no churches by the bishops, 
and that they spoil not such as are given unto them 
of the revenues, but so that the priests serving in 
those cures, and the churches might be provided 
with necessaries^. 

xxiii. That faith in way of marriage, pledged se- 
cretly and without witness, betwixt man and woman, 
be of no effect if either party do deny it. 

xxiv. That criniti, such as wear long hair, be so 
shaven, that part of their ears may appear, and their 
eyes not be covered. 

Criniti are opposed to tonsi^ extended to all lay-persons. 
If any demand how it came within the cognizance of 
the church to provide about their trimming, (which 
might well have been left to the party's pleasure, and 
his barber^s skill,) know this canon was built on the 
apostle'^s words. Doth not even nature itself teach you, 
that^ if a man have long hair^ it is a shame unto 
him^f And the church forbad whatsoever was a tres- 
pass againt Christian decency. Gildas giveth this 
character of the Picts : Furciferos magis vultus pilis 

™ J. Selden ad Eadmer. Spi- *' exspolient suis redditibus ut 

cilegiun], p. 207. ^' presbyteri ibi servientes in 

^ [These are the words of " iis quae sibi et ecclesiis ne- 

the canon : *' Ne monachi ec- " cessaria sunt penuriam pa- 

*' clesias nisi per episcopos ac- *' tiantur."] 
*' cipiant, neque sibi datas ita <> 1 Cor. xi. 14. 



60 The Church History book hi. 

A. D. I io«. quam carporum pudenda vestibus iegenfesP^ " that 

3 ^^' '• " they covered rather their thievish eyes with their 

^^ hair, than their shame with clothes;" which ruffian- 
like custom of long hair now used by the Normans, 
was here justly restrained. 

XXV. That parties akin to the seventh generation 
be not coupled in marriage; and that persons so 
coupled remain not in marriage ; and if any be privy 
to this incest, and not declare it, let him know him- 
self to be guilty of the same crime. 

This brought much grist to the pope's mill for dispensa- 
tions. As secular princes used to stop travellers on 
common bridges, or at the entrance of gates, not with 
intent finally to forbid their going further, but to re- 
ceive toll or custom for their passing by ; so the pope 
prohibited these degrees in marriage, not absolutely to 
hinder such matches, but to receive large sums of money 
for his leave; after whose faculties obtained, if such 
marriage were against the law of God, men did sin not 
with less guiltiness, but more expenses. 

xxvi. That the bodies of the dead be not carried 
to be buried out of their own parishes, so that the 
parish priest should lose his due unto him. 

xxvii. That none out of a rash novelty (which we 
know to have happened) exhibit reverence of holiness 
to any bodies of the dead, fountains or other things, 
without authority from the bishop. 

xxviii. That none presume hereafter (what hitherto 
men used in England) to sell men like brute beasts. 
This constitution, as all others which concerned the sub- 
ject's civil right, found not general obedience in the 
kingdom. For the proceedings of the canon law were 
never wholly received into practice in the land ; but so 
as made subject in whatsoever touched temporals, to 

P [Hist, eh. XV.] 



CENT. xir. of Britain. 61 

secular laws and national customs. And the laity, at a.d. 1102. 
pleasure, limited canons in this behalf. Nor were such ^h^-'* 
sales of servants, being men's proper goods, so weak- 
ened with this prohibition, but that long after they re- 
mained legal according to the laws of the land^. 

xxix. That the sin of sodometry, both in clergy 
and laity, should be punished with heavy censures. 
Remarkable that the same synod which forbad priests^ 
marriage, found it needful to punish sodometry, an 
Italian vice, beginning now to be naturalized in Eng- 
land ^ For those who endeavour to make the way to 
heaven narrower than God hath made it, by prohibit- 
ing what he permits, do in event make the way to hell 
wider, occasioning the committing of such sins, which 
God hath forbidden. We may further observe, that 
the plaister now applied to the rotten sore of sodometry, 
was too gentle, too narrow, and too Uttle time laid on. 
Too gentle ; for whereas the sin is conceived to deserve 
death, it was only slubbered over, that the party con- 
vict of this wickedness, if in orders, was admitted to no 
higher honour, and deposed from what he had, till 
restored again on his repentance. Too narrow, if it 
be true what one observes, that monks (as neither 
merely lay nor priests) were not threatened with this 
curse, where all was hidden in cloisters^. Lastly, too 
little time laid on ; for whereas at first it was consti- 
tuted, that such excommunication of sodomites con- 
victed, should solemnly be renewed every Lord'*s day ; 
this short-lived canon did die in the birth thereof, and 
Ansel m himself, postponi concessit ^^ suflTered it to be 
omitted, on pretence that it put beastly thoughts into 
many men'^s minds, whose corruption abused the punish- 
ment of sin in the provocation thereof; whilst others 

q See Mr. Selden, Spicileg. H. N. p. 24.] 

ad Eadmerum, p. 208. » Bale's Acts of English 

r [See Fuller's remarks on Votaries, part 11. f. 63. b. [ed. 

the fifth rule of these consti- 1551*] 

tutions. And see Eadmer, ^ Eadmerus ut prius. 



6^ The Church History book hi. 

A. D.I 102. conceive this relaxation indulged, in favour to some 
3^^"- '• great oflTenders, who, hardened in conscience, but tender 

in credit, could not endure to be so solemnly, publicly, 
and frequently grated with the shame of the sin they 
had committed. 

So much for the constitutions of that synod, 
wherein though canons were provided for priests, 
cap a piS, from the shaving to the shoes, yet not a 
syllable of their instructing the people and preaching 
God's word unto them. We must not forget, that 
men guilty of simony in the first canon, are not 
taken in the vulgar acception for such as were pro- 
moted to their places by money, but in a new coined 
sense of that word ; for those who were advanced to 
their dignities by investiture from the king, which 
gave occasion to the long and hot broil, happening 
betwixt king Henry and Anselm, which now we 
come to relate. 
Anselm re- 4. The kiuff Commanded him to consecrate such 

fuseth to ^ 

consecrate bishops as he lately had invested ; namely, William 
bishops; of Winchester, Roger of Hereford, &c., which An- 
selm refused, because flatly against the canon newly 
made in the coimcil of Rome by pope Urban, that 
any who had their entrance by the authority of tem- 
poral princes should be admitted to bishoprics^. 
Hereupon the king enjoined Gerard archbishop of 
York to consecrate them ; who out of opposition to 
Anselm his competitor, was as officious to comply 

▼ [Eadmer, H. N. p. 69. who refused. Reinelmus, the 

Malm. De Pontif. f. 128. Ro- queen's chancellor, succeeded 

ger of Hereford had been in- him, and was at this time bi- 

vested by the king, but never shop of Hereford. See Eadmer, 

consecrated by the archbishop: H. N. p. 68, and Mat. Par. a. 

on his deathbed he requested 1102.] 
Anselm to perform that office. 



CENT. XII. of Britain, 63 

with the king, as the other was backward, hoping a. d.i 105. 

thereby to hitch his church a degree the higher, by ^'''. 

help of the royal favour. Here happened an unex- 
pected accident : for William bishop of Winchester 
refused consecration jfrom the archbishop of York, 
and resigned his staff and ring back again to the 
king, as illegally from him^. This discomposed 
all the rest. For whereas more than the moiety of 
ecclesiastical persons in Ikigland were all in the 
same condemnation, as invested by the king, the 
very multitude of offenders would have excused the 
offence, if loyal to their own cause. Whereas now 
this defection of the bishop of Winchester so brake 
the ranks, and maimed their entireness, that their 
cause thereby was cast by their own confession, and 
so a party raised among them against themselves. 

5. Soon after, the king was contented that Anselm Anseim 
should go to Rome, to know the pope's pleasure ^^ 
herein*. But one, none of the conclave, without a 
prophetical spirit, might easily have foretold the re- 
solution of his holiness herein, never to part with 
power, whereof (how injuriously soever) though but 
pretendedly. possessed. Anselm. for his compliance 
with the pope herein, is forbidden to return into 
England, while the king seizeth on his temporalities y. 

6. However, not long after, by mediation of friends, a.d. 1107. 

they are reconciled ; the king disclaiming his right Jj^^^ 

of investitures, a weak and timorous act of so wise ?*^ invest- 
ing of 

and valiant a prince, whose predecessors before theWshopa. 
conquest held this power (though some time loosely) 
in their own hands ; and his predecessors since the 

^ [Reinelnius, elected to staff. Malmsb. ib.] 
Hereford, resigned the ring * [Joan. Sarisbur. p. 170.] 
and staff; William only the 7 [Eadmer, H. N. p. 76.] 



61 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1 107. eoDqiiefit gneped it faR in their fisC in defiance of 
Iff^JLsach pcfKS » voold finccr it firom them. Wliereas 
now he let it go <m of hk hand, whilst his snocessors 
in Tain, though whh a long aim. readied after it to 
leeoTer it'. And now Ansefan. who fonnerlv re- 
fosedf eonsemted all the bishops ^ Tacant sees; 
amongst whom. Roger of Saltshmr was a prime 
person, first pieferred to the king*s notice, because 
he began prayeis quickly, and ended than speedily ; 
for which qnalitr he was cfmxmeaded as fittest for a 



X [The king dudiiiiied bis 
It of inrestitiire on eon- 
ditioQ tint DO prdate dwold 
be deprired for doing booage 
to tbe king. Bat be it re- 
corded to tbe bonoor of tbe 
Endiith dergr, tbat tbej seal- 
cNuTf opposed tbis surrender 
<yf tbe rojBl pririkge, and 
tbroogb tbe entire strng^ op- 
posed Anselm's nnoonstita- 
tional aggressions. SeeEIadmery 
H. N. p« 91* Flor. Wigom. et 
Mat. Paris, an. 1107. We owe 
tbe sabjection of our cborch, to 
tbe papal nsorpatiocs, cbieflj 
to the Normans and otber fo- 
reigners wbo were promoted 
to tbe tee of Canterbuy. 
Landfranc and Ansebn, both 
Italians by birth^ idolized by 
the pope^ were eager enough 
to advance the power of tbe 
papal see, and their own influ- 
ence with it. And they used 
these opportunities at this par- 
ticular time, whilst three par- 
ties, the king, the prelates^ and 
the nobles, were contending in 
the state, all nearly equal in 
strength, and when the union 
o£ any two of them would be 



more tbaa a match for the 
third. Had Henry then at this 
time opp o ec d tbe pope's un- 
just aggrfSKionSt be would have 
snbfected himself and bis land 
to an interdict, and so have 
girem immense advantages to 
bis opponents, particularly his 
brother Robert, with whom 
many of tbe nobles bad already 
taken part, but Anselm and 
tbe dogy, and tbe English 
portion of bis subjects, had 
firmly opposed. Hence Hen. 
ry's constant endeavour to 
temporise with Anselm, and 
to gain time by sending fre- 
quently to Rome. He dared 
not openly reject Anselm, who 
would then at once have pro- 
nounced sentence of excom. 
munication against the king. 
And the pope and the prelates 
on their parts would not pro- 
ceed to such lengths against 
the king at once, through fear 
of his power and determina- 
tion. Therefore both parties 
avoided as long as they could 
coming to an open teial of 
strength.] 



OENT.Xil. 



4af Britain. 



65 



chaplam in the camp^ and was not unwelcome to the A.D. 1107. 
court on the same account*. — ^lll 

7- Ansehn having divested the king of investing Anseim for- 
bishops, (one of the fairest robes in the wardrobe,) marri»ge. 
did soon after deprive the clergy of one half of them*- 
selves. For, in a solemn synod he forbade priests' 
marriage ; wherein, as charitably we believe, his in- 
tentions pious and commendable, and patiently be^ 
hold his pretences, specious and plausible, «o we 
cannot but pronounce his performance for the pr^ 
sent injurious and culpable, and the effects thereof 
for the futia-e pernicious and damnable. And here 
we will a little enlarge ourselves on this subject of 
so high concernment. 

8. It is confessed on all sides, that there is no Only by a 
express in scripture to prohibit priests' marriage. ^^. 
Thomas* «,nd Scotus*, commonly cross, (as if reason 
enough for the latter to deny, because the former 
affirmed it,) do both (such the strength of truth) 
agree herein. Only ecclesiastical constitutions forbid 
them marriage^ And, though many popes tampered 
hereat, none effectually did drive the nail to the 
head, till Hfldebrand, <dias Gregory the Seventh^ 
(the better man the better deed,) finally interdicted 
priests' marriage. However, his constitutions, though 
observed in Italy and Prance, were not generally 
obeyed in England ; till Anseim at last forbade 



* [See Oul. Neubrigens.'^. 
6. William of Malmsbury is 
far more favourable to this pre- 
late's character; ^ooimending 
him greatly^ amongst other 
things^ for his magnificence, 
his restoring and adorning the 
church of Salisbury, f. 91.^ 

FULLER, VOL. II. 



a In 2^* 2^. qusest. IxxxvSS. 
art. II. [p. 167. ed. 1604.] 

^ Lib. vii. de Justitia quses^. 
6. artic. 2^0. (?) [For an account 
•x>f the proceedings touching 
the forbidding of the clergy to 
marry, see Eadmer, H. N. p. 
67, 83, 85, 94, 105.] 



66 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1107. married priests to officiate, or any lay-people, under 

'— pain of censure, to be present at their church-service. 

Grounded 9- Herein he proceeded on two erroneous prin- 
enw. ciples. One, that all men have, or may have, (if 
using the means,) the gift of continency. Wherein 
they do not distinguish betwixt, 

i. Common gifts, which God bestoweth on all his 
servants ; Jude ver. 3, "common salvation." 

ii. Proper gifts, thus the apostle ^ when he had 
wished all like himself, that is, able to contain, he 
immediately addeth, But every man hath his proper* 
gift of God^ one after this manner^ and another 
after that. 

His other false supposition is, that marriage is 
either inconsistent with, or at least impeditive to the 
purity of priestly profession. 
Paramount 10. The felseucss whereof appeareth by the prece- 
a married deut of Euoch, in whom met the threefold capacity 
^^"- of king, priest, and prophet. Yet his marriage re- 
mitted not the reins of his princely power, hindered 
not the performance of his sacerdotal function, re- 
bated not the edge of his prophetical spirit ; for, He 
walked with God^ and begat sons and daughters \ He 
made not a prayer the less for having a child the 
more : and let us be but alike holy with Enoch, and 
let others be more holy with Anselm. 
St. Paul 11. Wherefore when the apostle saith. He that is 
erpoun . ^^^^^^ caretk for the things which are of this worlds 
how he may please his wife% therein he describeth, 
not that height of God-pleasing which marriage 
ought, and in itself may, and by Enoch was im- 
proved, but expresseth such faults which through 

« I Cor. vii. 7. d Gen. v. 22. c i Cor. vii. 33. 



CSNT* XII. of Britain. 67 

human coiruption too commonly come to pass. a. d. 1107. 

Which aire vita mariti^ f^on matrimonii ; tuvoris^ nan ^- 

u^oraius, flowing neither from the essence, nor from 
the exercise of marriage, but only from the depraved 
use thereof, which by God's assistance, and man's 
best endeavours^ may be rectified and amended. 

Ifi. It is therefore falsely charged on marriage. And mar. 
qtm marriage^ that it is an hinderance to hospitality ; fended, 
starving the poor to feed a family. It is confessed it 
would break marriage, if, cceteris 'paribus^ she should 
oflfer to vie bounty with virginity; only she may 
equal virginity in cheerfiilness of her giving, and in 
the discreet choice of fit objects whereon to bestow 
it. Yet give me leave to say, in a married family 
there be commonly most mouths, and where most 
mouths, there probably most bread is eaten, and 
where most bread is eaten, there certainly most 
crumbs fall beneath the table, so that the poor are 
feasted by those fragments. If any rejoin, that single 
folk bestow their alms not by crumbs, but whole 
loaves, the worst I wish is, that poor people may find 
the truth thereof. Nor doth the having of children, 
qua children, make men covetous, seeing Solomon 
saw a man who had neither child nor brother^ yet his 
eye was not satisfied with riches^. On the other side, 
I find two in one and the same chapter^ professing 
they had enough, viz. Esau and Jacob, both of them 
married, both of them parents of many children. 

13. And here well may we wonder at the partiality a monk's 

verses mt 

of the papists, over-exalting marriage in the laity to bald u his 
a sacrament, and too much depressing the same in ^^^^^' 
priests, as no better than refined fornication. Yea, 

f Eccles. IV. 8. ? Gen. xxxiii. 9, 1 1. 

F 2 



68 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1 107. some have made virginity the com, and marriage the 

^atlL cockle ; which is a wonder that they should be of 

several kinds, seeing virginity is but the fruit, and 
marriage the root thereof. But, amongst all the foul 
mouths belibelling marriage, one railing rhythmer, 
of Anselm*s age, bore away the bell, (drinking surely 
of Styx instead of Helicon,) and I am confident my 
translation is good enough for his bald verses. 

O male viventes, versus audite sequentes; 
Uxores vestras, quas odit summa potestas, 
Linquite propter eum, tenuit qui morte trophanam. 
Quod 81 non facitis, infemi claustra petetis : 
Christi sponsa jubet ne presbyter ille ministret 
Qui tenet uxorem, Domini quia perdit amorem. 
Contradicentem fore dicimus insipientem^ 
Non ex rancore loquor haec, potius sed amore^^ 

O je that ill live» attention giye« unto my following rhythmes ; 

Your wives^ those dear mates, whom the highest power hates« 
see that ye leave them betimes. 

Leave them for his sake, who a conquest did make, and a crown 
and a cross did acquire. 

If any say no, I give them to know^ they must all unto hell for 
their hire. 

The spouse of Christ forbids that priest his ministerial function^ 

Because he did part with Christ in his hearty at his marriage- 
conjunction. 

We count them all mad, if any so bad, as daring herein to 
contest ; 

N(H' is it of apite that this I indite, but out of pure love^ I 
protest. 

Where did this railing monk ever read that God 
hated the wives of priests ? And did not the church 
of Rome at this time come under the character of 

^ Found in Ramsey abbey^ the English Votaries^ p. 11. 
in a treatise De Monicatu^ f. 6o^bu ed. 1551.] 
cited by -John Bale, [Acts of 



CENT. XII* of Britain. 69 

that defection described by the apostle? That in the A. D.iioj. 
latter times some shotdd depart from the faith^ for" ^'' 



bidding to marry ^ &fc} 

14. These endeavour (as they are deeply con-Anffl 
cemed) to wipe off from themselves this badge of 
antichrist, by pleading that, 

i. They forbid marriage to no man. 

ii. They force priesthood on no man. 
Only they require of those who freely enter into the 
priesthood to vow virginity, and command such to 
part with their wives who were formerly entered 
into orders. 

15. All which is alleged by them but in vain, WeU itop- 
seeing marriage may be forbidden, either directly or^"^' 
consequentially. For the first ; none, well in their 

wits, consulting their credit, did ever point-blank 
forbid marriage to all people. Such would be held 
as, hostes humani generis, " enemies of mankind," in 
their destructive doctrines. Nor did any ever abso- 
lutely (as it foUoweth in the same text) command all 
to abstain from meats. This were the way to empty 
the world of men, as the simple forbidding of mar- 
riage would fill it with bastards. And, although 
some silly heretics, as Tatian, Marcion, and Mani- 
cheus, are said absolutely to forbid marriage, yet 
they never mounted high, nor spread broad, nor 
lasted long. Surely some more considerable mark 
is the aim of the apostle's reproof, even the church 
of Rome, who by an oblique line, and consequen- 
tially, prohibit marriage to the priests, a most con- 
siderable proportion of men within the pale of the 
church. 

16. Notwithstanding the premises, it is fit thatMwriage- 

bedmay be 
J i Tim. iv. I. 

f3 



70 The Church History book hi. 

A. D.I 107. the embraces of marriaire should on some occasion 

^-^for a time be forborne, for the advance of piety; 

for a tune, first, when private dalliance is to yield to public 
febiddSf dolefulness : Let the bridegroom go out of his cham- 
ber^ and the bride out of her dosetK For though by 
the Levitical law one might not be forced to fight 
in the first year of his marriage, yet might he on 
just occasion be pressed to fast on the first day 
thereof. It is not said. Let the bridegroom go out 
of his bridegroom-ship, but only out of his chamber; 
and that also with intention to return when the 
solemnity of sorrow is overpast. Secondly, when 
such absence is betwixt them mutually agreed on ; 
Defraud ye not one another^ ewcefpt it be with consent 
for a time^ that ye may give yourselves to fasting and 
prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you 
not for your incontinencyK Here indeed is an inter- 
diction of the marriage bed, but it is voluntary, by 
mutual consent of the parties ; and temporary, only 
durante eorum beneplacito, not as the popish pro- 
hibition, impulsive, by the power of others, and per- 
petual, to continue during their lives. 
H. Hunt- 17. Hear what Henry of Huntingdon™ expressly 
15otsw« of saith of Anselm's carriage herein. " He prohibited 
Ansdm. « English priests to have vrives, who before time 
" were not prohibited ; which as some thought to be 
" a matter of greatest purity, so others again took it 
" to be most perilous, lest while by this means they 
" aimed at cleanliness above their power, they should 
" fall into horrible uncleanness, to the exceeding 
" great shame of Christianity." 
Ansdm 18. But Ausclm died before he could finish his 

dieth re in- 

^ Joel ii. I F. 1 I Cor. vii. ^ [Hist. f. 217, a.] 



CENT. XII. 



of Britain. 



71 



project of priests' divorces, who had he deceased be- a. d. i 109. 
fore he began it, his memory had been left less ^ ®^'* 



fecta of 



stained to posterity". His two next successors, Ra- pnests' di- 
dulphus and William Curbuil, went on vigorously ^^"*^ 
with the design, but met with many and great ob- 
structions. Other bishops found the like opposition, 
but chiefly the bishop of Norwich, whose obstinate 
clergy would keep their wives in defiance of his 
endeavours against them. 

19. Indeed Norfolk men are charactered in Jure The numt- 
mumcipcUi versatisstmt^ and are not easily ejected Norwich 
out of that whereof they had long prescription and ^*'^* 
present possession ; no wonder therefore if they 
stickled for their wives, and would not let go a 
moiety of themselves. Besides, Herbert Losing of 
Norwich needed not to be so fierce and furious 
against them, if remembering his own extraction, 
being the son of an abbot. These married priests 
traversed their cause with scripture and reason, and 
desired but justice to be done unto them. But jus- 
tice made more use of her sword than of her balance 
in this case, not weighing their arguments, but pe- 
remptorily and powerfully enjoining them to forego 
their wives, notwithstanding that there were in Eng- 



^ [He died on Wednesday, 
2 1 st of April, 1 1 09. Flor. 
Wigom., Sym. Dunelm., in 
an. 11 09. After his death, 
the see of Canterbury re- 
mained vacant for five years. 
When the king was admonish- 
ed not to leave the mother of 
the churches so long a widow; 
he answered, that Landfranc 
and Anselm had been such ex. 
cellent archbishops, that he 
could tind no successor equal 



to them, and felt reluctant to 
make a worse choice than his 
father. *' Talia responsa vide- 
" bantur plura juris et sequi et 
*^ erant plane," says Malms- 
bury, in his panegyric upon 
Anselm. De Pontif. f. 130, b. 
The honest chronicler seems 
not to have penetrated very 
deeply into the king's policy. 
Radulphus de Turbine suc- 
ceeded in II 15, and William 
in 1 1 23.] 

F 4 



1ft The Church History sook hi. 

A. D.I 1 15. land at this time many married priests, signal for 

sanctity and abilities. 

Leuned 20. Amongst the many eminent married priests 
^^^^„,, flourishing for learning and piety, one Ealphegus 
was now living, or but netvly dead. His residence 
was at Plymouth in Devonshire. Mr. Camden® «aith 
he was ervditus et conjugatus^ but the word conjugatus 
is by the indea? e^vpurgatorius^ commanded to be 
deleted^ 
A virgin- 21. To ordor the refractory married clergy, the 
^^^^^" bishops were fain to call in the aid of the pope. 
John de Crema, an Italian cardinal, jolly with his 
youthful blood and gallant equipage, came over into 
England with his bigness and bravery to bluster the 
clergy out of theif wives. He made a most gaudy 
oration in the commendation of virginity, as one who 
in his own person knew well how to value such a 
jewel by the loss thereof. Most true it is that the 
same night at London he was caught abed with an 
harlot, whereat he may be presumed to blush as red 
as his cardinal's hat, if any remorse of conscience re- 
mained in him**. What saith Deborah, In the days 
of Shamgar^ when the highways were unoccupied^ 
(obstructed by the^ Philistines,) travellers walked 
through by-paths^. The stopping the way of mar- 
riage, God's ordinances, made them frequent such 
base by-paths, that my pen is both afraid and 
ashamed to follow them. Cardinal Crema his mis- 
chance (or rather misdeed) not a little advantaged 
the reputation of married priests. 

« Brit, in Devon, [p. 145.} proceedings of the synod at 

P Printed an. 161 2v p. 383. (?) which this cardinal presided 

q Roger Hoveden, [f. 274,n.] will be found in Flor. Wigorn. 

and Hen.^ Huntingdon, [f. an. 1125. Wilkins, I.^ 406.] 
219, a* An account of the "^ Judges v. 6. 



CENT. xiT. of Britain. 73 

22. Bishops, archbishops, and cardinal, all of them a. d.i 126. 
almost tired out with the stubbornness of the recu- ^^ 
sant clergy ; the king at last took his turn to reduce Sei> own^ 
them. William Curbuil, archbishop of Canterbury, ^^^®'' 
willingly resigned the work into the king^s hand, 
hoping he would use some exemplary severity against 

them ; but all ended in a money matter ; the king 
taking a fine of married priests, permitted them to 
enjoy their wives, as well they might, who bought 
that which was their own before'. 

23. About this time the old abbey of Ely wasEiy-abbey 
advanced into a new bishoprick, and Cambridgeshire bishopric 
assigned for its diocese, taken from the bishopric of 
Lincoln ; out of which Henry the First carved one 
(Ely), and Henry the last two (Oxford and Peter- 
borough) bishoprics, and yet left Lincoln, the largest 
diocese in England. Spaldwick manor in Hunting, 
denshire was given to Lincoln, in reparation of the 
jurisdiction taken from it and bestowed on Ely*. 

24. One Herveus was made first bishop of Ely: And en. 
one who had been undone, if not undone, banished royalties! 
by the tumultuous Welsh, from the beggarly bishop- 
ric of Bangor ; and now (in pity to his poverty and 
patience) made the rich bishop of Ely. It is given 

to parents to be most fond of and indulgent to their 
youngest, which some perchance may render bb a 
reason why this bishopric, a^ last bom, wbs best 
beloved by the king. Surely he bestowed upon it 
vast privileges ; and his successors cockering this see 
for their darling, conferred some of their own royal- 
ties thereon. 

25. Bernard, chaplain to the kinff, and chancellor ^^ i>avid'g 

^ O' contest 

^ [Malmsb. f. 99.] Ang. Sac. I. 615. Mat. Paris, 

t [In 1 1 09. See Wharton's an. 1 1 09.] 



74 The Church HUtary book hi* 

A. D. 1 1 16. to the queen, was the first Nonnan made bishop of 
^^ ^''' St. David's. Presuming on his master's favour and 
JJ^j^' his own merit, he denied subjection to Canterbury, 
and would be (as anciently had been) an absolute 
archbishop of himself. Indeed St. David's was 
Christian some hundred of years, whilst Canterbury 
was yet pagan ; and could shew good cards (if but 
permitted fairly to play them) for archiepiscopal 
jurisdiction, even in some respect equal to Rome 
itself. Witness the ancient rhythming verse about 
the proportions of pardons given to pilgrims for their 
visiting religious places, 

Roma semel quantum bis dat Menevia tantum. 

Not that St. David's gives a peck of pardons where 
Rome gives but a gallon (as the words at the first 
blush may seem to import), but that two pilgrimages 
to St. David's should be equal in merit to one pil- 
grimage to Rome, such was the conceived holiness 
of that place. 
imparcon^ 26. Giraldus Cambrensis states the case truly and 
briefly*. That Canterbury hath long prescription, 
plenty of lawyers to plead her title, and store of 
money to pay them. Whereas St. David's is poor, 
remote out of the road of preferment ; intimating no 
less, that if equally accommodated she could set on 
foot as good an archiepiscopal title as Canterbury 
itself. But he addeth, that except some great alter- 
ation happeneth, (understand him, except Wales 
recover again into an absolute principality,) St. Da- 
vid's is not likely to regain her ancient dignity. 
William archbishop of Canterbury, aided by the 
pope, at last humbled the bishop of St. David's into 

t [De jure et statu Menevensis eccU^iae, p. 534. Printed in 
tlie second volume of Wharton's Anglia Sacra.] 



CENT. XII. of Britak/n. 75 

a submission; who vexed hereat, wreaked his spleen a. d.i 135. 

on the Welsh clergy ; furiously forcing them to '— 

forego their wives. The successors of this bishop 
would have been more thankful to his memory had 
he laboured less for the honour, and more preserved 
the profits of his see, whose lands he dilapidated 
with this his expensive suit, and on other designs 
for his own preferments 

27. King Henry died in Normandy of a surfeit by King Hen- 
eating lampreys^. An unwholesome fish, insomuch dLth. 
that Galen, speaking of eels in general, (whereto 
lampreys may be reduced,) expostulates with the 
gods for giving them so delicious a taste, and so 
malignant and dangerous an operation. But grant 
them never so good, excess is a venomous string in 
the most wholesome flesh, fish, and fowl, and it was 
too great a quantity caused a surfeit. I find him 
generally commended for temperance in his diet ^; 
only his palate (his servant in all other meats) was 
commonly his master in this dish. He was buried 
at Reading^, leaving but one daughter (the sea 
having swallowed his sons) survivmg him. 

u [The causes of St. David's suffragans without making sub- 
losing its archiepiscopal title jection to any other church ; 
were briefly these : Samson, and thus it continued till the 
its archbishop during the raging subjection of that country by 
of a yellow pest {ictericia), at Henry I. Girald. Cambrensis^ 
the solicitation of his country- p. 534. ib. Gul. Neubrigens. 
men passed over into Britanny. I. 3. n.] 
The see of Dole being then ^ Mat. Paris, []ai 11 35.] 
vacant, he was elected to it, ^ [By Malmsbury, De Gest. 
and the bishops who succeeded f. 91, b. and 100. A short ac- 
him retained his pall. But count of his sickness is given 
though St. David's was thus by Peter, abbot of Cluny, in a 
deprived of its ancient dignity, contemporary letter to Adela. 
the bishops of Wales were al- Marrier Bibliotheca Cluniacen- 
ways consecrated by the arch- sis, p. 635. ed. 16 14.] 
bishop of St. David's, as he * [Where he erected an ab- 
was always consecrated by his bey of Cluuiac monks. One 



76 The Church History book iit. 

A.D. 1135. 28. Stephen earl of Bologne hearing of Henry his 

death, hasteth over into England, and seizeth on the 

ufurpeth cTown^. All his title unto it wag this ; first, Maud, 
on aS^ the true heir thereof was a female* Secondly, absent 
^^ beyond the seas. Thirdly, married to a foreigner. 
Fourthly, no very potent prince, viz. Gfeoflfty Planta- 
genet earl of Anjou, whose land-lock-situation ren- 
dered him less formidable for any effectual impression 
on this island. Lastly, he was son to Adela, daughter 
to king William the Conqueror, (though a male, 
deriving his title from a female,) conceiving himself 
the daughter's son, to be preferred before Maud, the 
son's daughter. Indeed Stephen had an elder bro- 
ther, Theobald earl of Blois, but he chose a quiet 
coimty before a cumbersome kingdom; the enjoy- 
ment of his own, rather than invasion of another^s 
inheritance, seeing Maud was the undoubted heir of 
the English crown*. 
Maud the 28. This Maud I may call Maud the Fourth ; yea, 
England had no queen of another name since the 
Conquest which left any issue. 

i. Maud the First, wife to king William the 
Conqueror. 

ii. Maud the Second, (daughter to Malcolm king 
of ScotSy) wife to king Henry the First, 
iii. Maud the Third, wife to king Stephen, 
iv. Maud the Fourth, daughter to king Henry the 
First, and in right queen of England. 

of the first establishments of *' genii." Upon which account 

that order in England. Malmsb. his mother set him aside, and 

ib. See however the Mona- inspired her younger son Ste- 

sticon, I. 417.] phen with the ambitious hopes 

7 [Trivet. I. 4. Mat. Paris, of succeeding to his uncle's 

a. 1 135.] throner Trivet. I. 4., and Gul. 

» [Rather Theobald was of Neubrig. i. 4.] 
a tame spirit, ^* remissions in- 



Fourth. 



€ENT. Xil. 



of Britain. 



n 



TTiis last Maud was first married to Henry theA.D. 1135. 
Fourth, emperor of Grermany, and after his death -^ — Lf^ 
was constantly called the empress, by the courtesy 
of Christendom, though married to earl Geof&y, her 
second husband. To her all the clergy and nobility 
had sworn fealty in her father's lifetime*. 

29. William archbishop of Canterbury*', notwith- The per. 
standing his oath to Maud, solenmly crowned Ste-SS^. 
phen, and in the same act shewed himself perjured 
to his God, disloyal to his princess, and ungrateful to 
his patroness, by whose special fiivour he had been 
preferred. The rest of the bishops to their shame 
followed his example; dealing with oaths as seamen 
with the points in the compass, saying them forwards 
and backwards. Indeed covetousness and pride 
prompted this disloyalty unto them, hoping to obtain 
of an usurper what they despaired to get from a lawful 
king. For their modesty (and that little enough) in 
askmg was all Stephen's measure in giving ; resolving 
with himsetlf for the present to grant what should 
please them, and at leisure to perform what should 
please himself. Let him now get but the stump of 
a crown, and with wise watering thereof, it would 
sprout afterwards. Hence was it that he granted 
the bishops liberty to build and hold many castles; 
freedom in forests ; investiture from the pope^; with 



A [''Quam [[Matildam] quam- 
** vis esset admodum juvencula 
" anno gratise MCX uxorem 
" duxit Imperator Henricus 
** quintus> quern i][uidam quar- 
'* turn dicunt non numerantes 
** Henricum primum^ eo qaod 
^* benedictionem imperialem 
" fuerit minime assecutus." 
Nic. Trivet. I. 3. The oath 



of fealty was made to Maud an 
the 27th year of her father's 
reign. She married her second 
husband^ Oeotfry Plantagenet^ 
in I i 29, three years after the 
death of her first. Trivet, ib.] 

* [WiUiam CurbuU. See Tri. 
vet. I. ^, Gul. Neubrig. I. 4.] 

c [His title was confirmed 
by pope Innocent. Symeonis 



78 The Church Historjf Book lit* 

A. D.I 135. many other immunities which hitherto the clergy 
1—^ — 1 never obtained. All things thus seemingly settled^ 
yet great was the difference of judgments in the 
English concerning king Stephen, which afterwards 
discovered themselves in the variety of men's 
practices. 
Variety of SO. Somo actod vigorously for Stephen, conceiving 
^^s. possession of a crown createth a right unto it. Where 
shall private persons (unable of themselves to trace 
the intricacies of princes' titles) fix their loyalty 
more safely than on him whom success tendereth 
unto them for their sovereign ? God doth not now (as 
anciently) visibly or audibly discover himself; we 
must therefore now only look and listen to what he 
sheweth and saith by his voice in the success of 
things, whereby alone he expresseth his pleasure 
what he owneth or disclaimeth. This their judgment 
was crossed by others, who distinguished betwixt 
heaven's permission and consent ; God sometimes 
suffering them to have power to compel, to whom he 
never gave authority to command. 
Pn>and 31. But somo uTgod, that Stephen was declared 
2^*ste. lawful king by popular consent, which at this time 
i**^ could alone form a legal right to any in this island. 
For Maud, Stephen's corrival, in vain pretended suc- 
cession, seeing the crown since the conquest never 
observed a regular, but an imcertain and desultory 
motion. Nor was it directed to go on by the straight 
line of primogeniture, which leaped over the Con- 
queror's eldest to his second son : then taking a new 

Dunehn. Con tin. a. 1136. Ste- laity. See Malmsb. f. 101. He 

phen was not joined by the was indebted for his success to 

clergy until he had been acknow- Henry his brother^ then the 

ledged by the nobility and pope's legate in England.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 79 

rise, from the eldest still surviving, to Henry his a. d. 1135. 

third son. Here no chain of succession could be ^ 

pleaded, where no two links followed in order. But 
others answered, that such popular election of Ste- 
phen had been of validity, if the electors had been 
at liberty ; whereas they being preengaged to Maud 
by a former oath, could not again dispose of those 
their votes, which formerly they had passed away. 

32. Others conceived that the stain of Stephen a second 
his usurpation in getting the crown was afterward their op- 
scoured clean out by his long (more than eighteen ''^*^' 
years) enjoying thereof. For, suppose Providence 

for a time may wink and connive, yet it cannot be 
conceived in so long a slumber, yea, a sleep, yea, a 
lethargy, as to permit one peaceably so long to 
possess a throne, except heaven had particularly 
designed him for the same. To this others answered, 
that Stephen all that time rather possessed than 
enjoyed the crown, (alarmed all his life long by 
Maud and her son,) so that he had as little quiet in, 
as right to the kingdom. But grant his possession 
thereof never so peaceable, what at first was found- 
ered in the foundation, could not be made firm by 
any height of superstructure thereupon. An error 
by continuance of time can never become a truth, 
but the more inveterate error. 

33. A third sort maintained, that sul^ecte' loyalty a third 
is founded on their sovereign's protection, so that 
both sink together. Seeing therefore Maud was 
unable to afford her people protection, hep people 
were bound to no longer allegiance. But this position 
was disproved by such, who bottoming allegiance 
only on conscience, make protection but the encou- 
ragement, not the cause thereof. They distinguished 



80 The Church History book iii. 

A.D. 1135. also betwixt a prince's wilfiil desertmff his people, 

I Stephen. , ,^. . ,.,. i 1 ^ \. 

and nis mability to protect them ; not through his 

own default, but the forcible prevailing of others. 
Thus the conjugal tie is only dissolved by the parties* 
voluntary uncleanness, and not by his or her adven- 
titious impotency to render due benevolence. 

A fourth 34,. A fourth party avouched that Maud, though 

with theirs. , r J 'a 

not actually and openly, yet tacitly and interpre- 
tatively, released the English from their allegiimce 
unto her. For what prince can be presumed so 
tyrannical, as to tie up people to the strict terms of 
loyalty unto him, when the same is apparently de- 
structive unto them, and no whit advantageous to 
himself? But others disliked this position ; for where 
did any such relaxation appear? It cancelleth not 
the obligation of a debtor to £EUicy to himself an 
acquittance from his creditor, which cannot be pro- 
duced. 
Some act ^^' Somo actod at the commands, though not for 
Sn^^s^^*^ the commands, of king Stephen, namely, in such 
phen's things whcreiu his injunctions concurred with equity, 
charity, and order, consistent with the principles of 
public utiUty and self preservation. These, havmg 
the happiness to be commanded by an usurper to do 
that which otherwise they would have dene of them- 
selves, did not discover themselves to act out of 
their own inclinations, w^hilst it passed unsuspected 
in the notion of their obedience to king Stejdien. 
Thus many thousands, under the happy conduct (or 
at leastwise contrivance) of Thurstan, archbishop of 
York, though in their hearts well affected to Maud 
her title, unanimously resisted David king of Scots^^ 

^ [Trivet I. 6. Gul. J^eub. i. 5^ Sym. Cont. J 137-8.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 81 

though he pretended recuperative arms in queen a. p. 1 135. 

Maud her behalf; under which specious title he bar- 

barously committed abominable cruelties, till nettled 
therewith, both Stephanists and Maudists jointly bad 
him battle, and overthrew him nigh Alerton in 
Yorkshire®. 

SQ. All generally bare the burdens, and no less Politic 

1..11 .1 •111 . -I patience. 

pohticly than patiently, paid all taxes imposed upon 
them. Recusancy in this kind had but armed king 
Stephen with a specious pretence to take all from 
them for refusing to give a part. Nor scrupled they 
hereat, because thereby they strengthened his usurpa- 
tion against the rightful heir, because done against 
their wills, and to prevent a greater mischief: mean- 
time they had a reservation of their loyalty, and, 
erecting a throne in their hearts, with their prayers 
and tears mounted queen Maud on the same. 

37. Robert earl of Gloucester (the queen's half- Robert eari 
brother) may even make up a form by himself, cester sin- 
finding none other before or after him of the same ^^' 
opinion. Who conditionally did homage to king 
Stephen, scilicet si dignitatem suam sibi servaret illi- 
datam^, namely, "So long as he preserved this Robert's 

dignity (for so I understand the pronoun's recipro- 
cation) to be inviolated." 

38. A few there were whose relucting consciences Highiycon- 

scientious. 

remonstrated against the least compliance with king 
Stephen; whose high loyalty to Maud interpreted 
all passiveness under an usurper to be activity against 

e [The cause of Maud was cruelty, as quickly to estrange 
chiefly espoused by the Lon- from her the hearts of her par- 
doners, but when upon the tisans. See Symeon Dunelm. 
capture of Stepen in 1 142, she cont. p. 270. Gul. Neubrig. 
was raised to the throne, she i. 9.] 
showed so much pride and ^ [M.Paris, p. 75. an. 1 136.] 

FULLER, VOL, II. G 






82 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. ii36the right heir. These even quitted their lands in 
^ ' England to the temi)est of times, and secretly con- 

veyed themselves, with the most incorporeal of their 
estates, (as occupying the least room in their waftage 
over,) into Normandy. 
An honest 39. Tlic clcrgy, percciviug that king Stephen per- 
the d«Tjy. formed little of his large promises unto them, were 
not formerly so forward in setting him up, but now 
more fierce in plucking him down, and sided effectu- 
ally with Maud against him. An act which the ju- 
dicious behold, not as a crooked deed, bowing them 
from their last, but as an upright one, straightening 
them to their first and best oath, made to this Maud 
in the lifetime of her father. But Stephen (resolved 
to hold with a strong what he had got with a wrong 
hand) fell violently on the bishops, who then were 
most powerful in the land, (every prime one having, 
as a cathedral for his devotion, so many manors for 
his profit, parks for his pleasure, and castles for his 
protection,) and he uncastled Roger of Salisbury, 
Alexander of Lincoln, and Nigellus of Ely, taking 
also a great mass of treasure from them^f. 
A. D.I 1 37. 40. Most fiercely fell the fury of king Stephen 
Pau?" * on the dean and canons of Paul's, for crossing him in 
^j^^^ the choice of their bishop. For he sent and took 
their Focarias^, and cast them into London Tower; 
where they continued many days, not without much 
scorn and disgrace, till at last those canons ransomed 
their liberty at a great rate. 
What Fo- 41. What these Focariae were, we conceive it no 
'• disgrace to confess our ignorance, the word not ap- 



g [Mat. Paris, a. 1139. Trivet, I. 7. Gul. Neub. i. 6.] 
h Rad. de Diceto, [p. 506.] 



cariae were. 



CENT. XII. 



of Britain, 



88 



pearing in any classical author, and we must byA.D. 1137. 
degrees screw ourselves into the sense thereof. '- 

i. It signifieth some female persons, the gender of 
the word discovering so much. 

ii. They were near to the canons, who had an high 
courtesy for them, as appears by procuring their 
liberty at so dear a price. 

iii. Yet the word speaks not the least relation of 
affinity or consanguinity unto them. 

iv. All the light we can get in this Focariae, is 
from some sparks of fire which we behold in the 
word, so as if these shes were nymphs of the chim- 
ney, or fire-makers to these canons. 

If so, surely they had their holyday clothes on 
when sent to the Tower, (kitchen-stuflF doth not use 
to be tried in that place,) and were considerable (if 
not in themselves) in the affections of others. And 
now, well fare the heart of Roger Hoveden, who 
plainly tells us that these Focariae were these canons* 
concubines*. See here the fruit of forbidding mar- 
riage to the clergy, against the law of God and 
nature. What saith the apostle? It is better to 
marry than to burn^^; or, which is the same in effect. 
It is better to have a wife than a fire-maker. 



i [Hist. f. 430. The term 
focarice occurs in the Chro- 
nicon de Lanercost^ in con- 
nection with others, as to leave 
its meaning no longer doubt- 
ful. " Praecepit etiam rex mi- 
nistris suis quod concubinas 
et focarias et amasias pres- 
byterorum et clericorum in- 
ventas comprehenderent.*' 
p. 4. For the use of tliis work 
I am indebted to its editor, 
Joseph Stevenson, esq., lately 



«« 



e€ 



t€ 



*€ 



one of the sub-commissioners 
of records. The manner in 
which he has executed his task 
is as creditable to his talents 
and industry, as the publication 
of the MS. is to the liberality 
and judgment of the Bannatyne 
and Maitland clubs. It is one 
of the most valuable modern 
contributions to English his- 
tory.] 

i* I Cor. vii. 9. 

G 2 



84 The Church History book hi. 

A. D.I 1 36. 42. Albericus bishop, of Hostia came post from 
l!^Rome, sent by pope Innocent the Second mto Eng- 
WeiLnZ land ; called a synod at Westminster, where eighteen 



«tt»r, 



bishops and thirty abbots met together^. Here was 
concluded; That no priest, deacon, or sub-deacon 
should hold a wife or woman within his house, 
under pain of degrading from his Christendom, and 
plain sending to hell. That no priests' son should 
claim any spiritual living by heritage. That none 
should take a benefice of any layman. That none 
were admitted to cure which had not the letters of 
his orders. That priests should do no bodily labour : 
and that their transubstantiated god should dwell 
but eight days in the box, for fear of worm-eating, 
moulding, or stinking, with such like. In this synod 
Theobald abbot of Becco was chosen archbishop of 
Canterbury in the place of William lately deceased. 
A. D. 1139. 43. The most considerable clergyman of England 
wSttterin this age for birth, wealth, and learning, was 
w^^iate. Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, and brother 
to king Stephen^. He was by the pope made his 
legate for Britain, and outshined Theobald the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. For although Theobald just 
at this time was augmented with the title of legatus 
natus^ (which from him was entailed on his successors 

J [Symeonis Dunelm. cont. 1143* at which Stephen was 

p. 264. 327. Wilkins, I. 416. present. Trivet, 12] 
Trivet. I. 7. The first council ^ [This Henry was the 

was assembled by Albericus at fourth^ as Stephen was the 

London in 1138, when Theo- third son of Adela^ daughter 

dore abbot of Bee was conse- of William the Conqueror, 

crated archbishop of Canter- He was originally a Cluniac 

bury (Trivet. 7,). The second monk, and abbot of Glasten- 

in 1 139, by Henry bishop of bury, the rich revenues of 

Winton, at Winchester (Malm, which place he was allowed to 

f. 103.), and a third in the hold in conjunction with the 

same place in 1142 (Malm. f. see of Winchester. Trivet. I. 

106, b.) Another at London in 4, 5. Gul. Neubrigens. i. 4.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 86 

in that see,) yet this Henry of Blois, beinff for theA.D. 1136. 

. 7 >• , , . , ^4 Stephen. 

present kgatus facttts^ out-lustered the other as far 

as an extraordinary ambassador doth a leger of the 
same nation. In this Henry two interests did meet 
and contend ; that of a brother, and that of a bishop ; 
but the latter clearly got the conquest, as may appear 
by the council he called at Winchester, wherein the 
king himself was summoned to appear^. Yea, some 
make Stephen personally appearing therein, (a dan- 
gerous precedent, to plead the cause of the crown 
before a conventicle of his own subjects,) so that to 
secure Rome of supremacy in appeals, he suffered a 
recovery thereof against his own person in a court of 
record, losing of himself to save the crown thereby 
unto himself. But William of Malmsbury, present 
at the council, (and therefore his testimony is to be 
preferred before others,) mentions only three parties 
in the place present there with their attendance : 

i. Roger of Salisbury, with the rest of the bishops, 
grievously complaining of their castles taken from 
them. 

ii. Henry bishop of Winchester, the pope's legate, 
and president of the council ; with Theobald arch- 
bishop of Canterbury pretending to umpire matters 
in a moderate way. 

iii. Hugh archbishop of Rouen, and Aubery de 
Vere, (ancestor to the earl of Oxford,) as advocate 
for king Stephen. 

This Aubery de Vere seems learned in the laws, • 
being charactered by my author, homo camarum 

1 [Stephen was present at a tion or compulsion ; '* benigne 

synod held in London in 1 143, '* interfuit et favoris regii suf- 

which probably Fuller has mis- *' fragium non negavit." Gul. 

taken for Winchester ; not ap- Neubrigens. i. 10. See also 

parently on account of any cita- Wilkins' Cone. I. 421. sq.] 

G 3 



86 The Church History book hi. 

A.v.iisg,varietatibu8 e^ercitatusj "a man well versed in the 

^^""^ " windings of causes- " 

The itme- 44. Jn this svnod, first the commission of pope 

lets issue , 

of the synod Innocent the Second was read, empowering the said 
Chester.' Hemj bishop of Winchester with a legative au- 
thority. Then the legate made a sermon; Latia- 
riter^ which is, as I conceive, " in the Latin tongue." 
We find not his text ; but know this was the subject 
of his discourse, to inveigh against king Stephen 
depriving those bishops of their castles. Sermon 
ended, the king's advocates, or true sulgects rather, 
(many making them to speak only out of the dictates 
of their own loyalty, and not plead by deputation 
from the king,) made his defence, that bishops could 
not canonically hold castles, and that the king had 
despoiled them of their treasure, not as episcopal 
persons, but as they were his lay-offices, advised 
thereto by his own security. The bishops returned 
much for themselves, and in fine, the synod brake 
A. D.I 140 up without any extraordinary matter effected. For 
soon after came queen Maud with her navy and 
army out of Normandy, which turned debates into 
deeds, and consultations into actions : but we leave 
the readers to be satisfied about the alternation of 
success betwixt king Stephen and Maud to the 
historians of our state. There may they read of 
Maud her strange escapes, when avoiding death, by 
being believed dead, (otherwise she had proved in 
her grave, if not pretended in a coffin,) when getting 
out in white linen, under the protection of snow ° : I 
say, how afterwards both king Stephen and Robert 



m Willielm. Malms, f. 103. Paris, an. 11 39. sq. Gul. Neu- 
n [Trivet. I. 9, 10, 11. Mat. brig. i. 9, 10.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 87 

earl of Gloucester were taken prisoners, and given in a.d. 1141. 
exchange, the one for the liberty of the other ; with — ^ — 1 
many such memorable passages the reader may stock 
himself from the pens of the civil historians, the 
proper relators thereof. 

45. It is strange to conceive how men could be at Why 
leisure in the troublesome reign of king ^Stephen to ^^L*8 
build and endow so many religious foundations, jj^'^^*®"* 
Except any will say, that men being (as mortal in ^^^^^ 
peace) most dying in war, the devotions of those 

days (maintaining such deeds meritorious for their 
souls) made all in that martial age most active 
in such employments. Not to speak of the mona- 
stery of St. Mary de Pratis, founded by Robert earl a.d. 1144. 
of LeicesterP, and many others of this time: the 
goodly hospital of St. Katharine's nigh London was 
founded by Maud wife to king Stephen, though others 
assign the same to Robert bishop of Lincoln, as 
founder thereof. So stately was the choir of this 
hospital, that it was not much inferior to that of St. 
Paul's in London, when taken down in the days of 
queen Elizabeth by Dr. Thomas Wilson, the master 
thereof, and secretary of state'. 

46. Yea, king Stephen himself was a very great Religious 
founder. St. Stephen was his tutelary saint, (though founded by 
he never learned his usurpation from the patient p^gn. ^" 
example of that martyr,) whose name he bore, on 
whose day he was crowned, to whose honour he 
erected St. Stephen's chapel in Westminster, near 

the place where lately the court of request was kept. 
He built also the Cistercian's monastery in Fever- 

P [R. de B08SU.] brig. i. 14, 15, 16.] 

q [Robert de Chesney. See ^ Stow's Survey of London, 
other instances in Gul. Neu- p. 117. 

G 4 



88 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. ii44«8ham ; with an hospital near the west gate in York. 

And whereas formerly there were paid out of every 

plough-land in England, betwixt Trent and Edin- 

burgh-Frith, twenty-four oat sheaves for the king's 

hounds'; Stejihen converted this rent-charge to his 

new built liosi)ital in York. A good deed no doubt ; 

for though it bo unlawful to take the children's bread 

and to cast it unto the dogs\ it is lawful to take the 

dog's bread, and to give it unto the children. 

A.D. 1 150. 47. The king being desirous to settle sovereignty 

utoncy of ou liis SOU Eustace, earnestly urged Theobald arch- 

archhihop bishop of Canterbury to crown him^. For Stephen 

cf Canter- g^^^^ ^^mt fcalty, barely sworn to Maud in her father's 

lifetime, was afterwards broken : and therefore, (his 

own guilt making him the more suspicious,) for the 

better assurance of his son's succession, he would go 

one step further, endeavouring to make him actual 

king in his own lifetime. But the archbishop stoutly 

refused, though proscribed for the same, and forced 

to fly the land, till after some time he was reconciled 

to the king. 

The sea- ^g Eustaco the kiuff's son died of a phrensy, as 

sonahle o r j-f 



8 Stow's Chron. p. 146, 148. 
Of the foundation of Fever- 
sham, see the Monasticon^ I. 

687.] 

t Mark vii. 27. 

V [Eustace was not Stephen's 
only son, as our author ap- 
pears to think. He had an- 
other named William, who did 
homage to Henry by his fa- 
ther's order, and to whom, in 
1 157, Henry II. gave the 
same lands which Stephen his 
father held under Henry I., 
in return for the castles of Pe- 
vensey and Norwich, which 



this William possessed. See 
Trivet. I. 34. Besides this 
son, he had a daughter, named 
Mary, abbess of Romsey, who 
was in 1 1 60 married to Mat- 
thew son of the earl of Flan- 
ders, ib. 39. The alliance of 
Eustace with France, he 
having married Constance, a 
sister of that king, and his 
own high spirit and courage, 
prevented Stephen from enter- 
ing into any agreement with 
Henry. Gul. Neubrig. i. 30. 
ii. 10.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain, 89 

going to plunder the lands of Bury-abbey^. A death a. d. 1152. 
untimely in reference to his youthful years, but'^ ^ ^' 
timely and seasonably in relation to the good of the p^n^e Eu- 
land. If conjecture may be made from his turbulent ***^ 
spirit, coming to the crown he would have added 
tyranny to his usurpation. His father Stephen begins 
now to consider, how he himself was old, his son 
deceased, his subjects wearied, his land wasted with 
war : which considerations, improved by the endea- 
vours of Theobald archbishop of Canterbury, and 
God's blessing on both, produced an agreement 
between king Stephen and Henry duke of Nor-A.D. 1153. 
mandy, the former holding the crown for his life, 
and after his death settling the same on Henry, his 
adopted son and successor*. 

49. We have now gotten, (to our great credit and An Eng- 
comfort no doubt,) an Englishman pope; namely. p^^'* 
Nicholas Breakspeare, alias Adrian the Fourth. 
Bom, saith my author y, nigh Uxbridge in Middlesex, 
of the ancient and martial family of the Break- 
speares ; though others make him no better than a 
bastard of an abbot of St. Alban's^. The abbot of 



"^ Mat. Paris, s. a. [Trivet, a monk of St. Alban's, in his 

I. 22.] history of the abbots of that 

* [See the charter of their church, this Nicholas was bom 

convention in Rymer's Feed, at Langley* not far from the 

I. 18. (ed. 1816.) abbey of St. Alban's, and was 

y Camden in Middlesex, [p. the son of Robert de Camera, 

302.] who retired from the world in 

2 Bale*s Acts of the English the infancy of his son, and be- 
Votaries, [part 11. f. 85, ed. came a monk of St. Alban's, 
155 1. Nicholas Breakspeare (qui honeste vivens, in saeculo 
was elected to the popedom literatus aliquantulum, habi- 
1 7 Dec. 1 1 54, in the first year tum religionis in domo S. Al- 
of the reign of Henry II., ac- bani suscepit, p. 70.) The fa- 
cording to Gul. Neubrig. ii. 6. ther, desirous that Nicholas 
(See also Trivet. I. 24.) Ac should be admitted into the 
cording to Mat. Paris, himself cloister, addressed himself to 



90 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1 155. which convent he confirmed the first, in place of all 
L—L—in England. If I miscount not, we never had but 
four popes and a half (I mean cardinal Pool, pope 
elect) of our nation. And yet of them, one too 
manj, will the papists say, if pope Joan, as some 
esteem her, were an Englishwoman. Yea, lately 
(the elected following the plurality of the electors) 
they have almost engrossed the papacy to the Ita- 
lians. Our Adrian had but bad success, choked to 
death with a fly in his throat\ Thus any thing next 
nothing, be it but advantageously planted, is big 
enough to batter man's life down to the ground. 
Oeftejr 50. GeflS^y ap Arthur (commonly called from his 

defended, native place, Geffrey of Monmouth) was now bishop 
of St. Asaph ^. He is the Welsh Herodotus, the 



his superior for that purpose, 
who granted his request, on 
condition that his son should 
be found competent. ''Qui 
'^ cum examinatus et insuf- 
" ficiens inveniretur, dixit ei 
'* abbas satis civiliter ; * Ex- 
'* pecta, fill, et adhuc scholam 
** exerce ; ut aptior habearis.' 
" Unde ipse clericus verecun- 
dus reputans talem dilatio- 
nem repulsam^ abiit ; et Pa- 
" risios adiens, ibique scholaris 
'* vigilantissimus effectus om- 
** nes socios discendo supera- 
'* vit." ib. p. 66. He was after- 
wards made canon^ and subse- 
quently abbot of St. Rufus 
near Valence. Afterwards ob- 
taining a great reputation for 
prudence and learning in three 
several embassies upon which 
he was sent to Rome^ and for 
his missionary labours in con- 
verting the Norwegians, he was 
made bishop of Albania upon 



€t 



<« 



the vacancy of that see (Mat. 
Paris, ib. 70.), and a cardinal 
by Eugenius III. Upon the 
death of Anastasius IV. he was 
raised to the popedom, and 
died 1 1 60. Gul. Neubrig. ii. 9. 
See also Hist. Maj. 9I9 and 
Trivet. I. 25. John of Salis- 
bury has detailed a very in- 
teresting conversation which 
he held with this pope, (when 
he resided three months with 
him at Beneventum,) upon the 
abuses of the popes and the 
church of Rome. Policraticus, 
vi. 24.] 

A [But according to Mat. 
Paris, ib. p. 74, he was poi- 
soned because he refused, from 
conscientious motives, to give a 
bishopric to the son of a power- 
ful Roman citizen.] 

^ [He was elected a. 1151. 
For some account of him, see 
M. Paris, in an., and GuL Neu- 
brigens. in prsef. Hist.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 91 

father of ancient history and fahles ; for, he who will a. d. 115^. 
have the first, must have the latter. Polydore Virgil I — 3_ 
accuseth him of many falsehoods, (so hard it is to 
halt before a cripple,) who, notwithstanding, by 
others is defended, because but a translator, and not 
the original reporter. For a translator tells a lie in 
telling no lie, if wilfiilly varying from that copy 
which he promiseth faithfully to render. And if he 
truly translates what he finds, his duty is done, and 
is to be charged no further. Otherwise the credit of 
the best translator may be cracked, if himself become 
security for the truth of all that he takes on trust 
from the pens of others. 

51. King Stephen ended his troublesome life®. AA.D.1154. 
prince, who if he had come in by the door, the best of king 
room in the house had not been too good to enter- ^'^p^®'** 
tain him. Whereas now the addition Usurper (af- 
fixed generally to his name) corrupts his valour into 
cruelty, devotion into hypocrisy, bounty into flattery 

and design. Yet, be it known to all, though he 
lived an usurper, he died a lawful king ; for what 
formerly he held from the rightful heir by violence, 
at his death he held under him by a mutual compo- 
sition. He was buried with his son and wife at 
Feversham in Kent, in a monastery of his own build- 
ing^. At the demolishing whereof, in the reign of 
king Henry the Eighth, some, to gain the lead 
wherein he was wrapped, cast his corpse into the sea*. 
Thus sacrilege will not only feast on gold and silver, 
but (when sharp set) will feed on meaner metals. 

52. Henry the Second succeeded him, known bywiwtlK^ 

c [Mat. Paris, and Trivet, meon. ib. 280, but by Stephen, ^**'^®* 

in an.] according to Qui. Neubrigens. 

<J [Built by his wife Maud^ i« 32.] 
according to Trivet. I. 24. Sy- « Stow's Chron. 148. 



9i The Church History book hi. 

A.D.I 155. a triple surname, two personal and ending bj him- 
1-1 self, Fitz-empress and Shortmantle ; the other here- 
ditary, fetched from Geffrey his father, and trans- 
mitted to his posterity, Plantagenet, or Plantaga- 
nest'. This name was one of the sobriquets or 
{penitential nick-names which great persons about 
this time, posting to the holy war in Palestine, either 
assumed to themselves, or had by the pope or their 
confessors imposed upon them, purposely to disguise 
and obscure their lustre therewith. See more of the 
same kind : 

i. Berger, a shepherd. 

ii. Grise-GoncUe, greycoat. 

iii. Teste d' Estoupe, head of tow. 

iv. Arbust, a shrub. 

V. Martel, a hammer. 

vi. Grand-Boeufe, ox-face. 

vii. La-Zouch, a branch upon a stem. 

viii. Iloulet, a sheephook. 

ix. Hapkin, a hatchet. 

X. Chapell, a hood. 

xi. Sans-terr, lack-land. 

xii. Malduit, ill-taught. 

xiii. Juvencas, Geffard, or heifer. 

xiv. Fitz de Flaw, son of a flail. 

XV. Plantagenist, stalk of a broom. 
Thus these great persons accoimted the penance 
of their pilgrimage, with the merit thereof, doubled, 
when passing for poor inconsiderable fellows, they 
denied their own places and persons. But be it 
reported to others, whether this be proper, and 
kindly evangelical self-denial, so often commended 
to the practice of Christians. However some of 

^ Alias Plantagenist. 



CENT. XII. 



of Britain. 



9S 



these by-names, assumed by their fancifii] devotion, a. 0.1155. 
remained many years after to them and theirs ; ^ 
amongst which, Plantagenist was entailed on the 
royal blood of England. 

53. This king Henry was wise, valiant, and gene- KingHemy 
rally forturiatefi^. His faults were such as speak himr^. 
man, rather than a vicious one. Wisdom enough he 

had for his work, and work enough for his wisdom, 
being troubled in all his relations. His wife queen 
Eleanor brought a great portion, (fair provinces in 
France,) and a great stomach with her ; so that it is 
questionable, whether her froward spirit more drove 
her husband from her chaste, or Rosamond's fair 
face more drew him to her wanton embraces. His 
sons (having much of the mother in them) grew up, 
as in age, in obstinacy against him. His subjects, 
but especially the bishops, (being the greatest castle- 
mongers in that age,) very stubborn, and not easily 
to be ordered^. 

54. Meantime one may justly admire, that no what be- 
mention in authors is made of, nor provisions for^®/^^ 
Maud the king's mother, (surviving some years after ®™p^***- 
her son's coronation,) in whom during her life lay 

the real right to the crown. Yet say not king 
Henry's policy was little in preferring to take his 
title from an usurper by adoption, rather than from 
his own mother (the rightful heir) by succession, 



S QSee a description of his 
person and character by Peter 
of Blois, archdeacon of Bath^ 
who was personally acquainted 
with the king, in his letter to 
Walter archbishop of Palermo, 
(Petri Blesens. Op. epist. 66.), 
quoted also by Trivet. I. 25. 
See also Neubrigens. iii. 26.] 



^ [The building of castles 
had grown to a great excess 
during the disturbances of Ste- 
phen's reign ; after that prince 
had made a composition with 
Henry, he destroyed great 
part of them. Their number 
was eleven hundred and fifteen, 
according to M. Paris, a. 1 1 53.] 



94 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. ii55.and his piety less, in not attending his mother's 

1—1 death; but snatching the sceptre out of her hand, 

seeing no writer ever chargeth him with the least 
degree of undutifulness unto her. Which leadeth 
us to believe that this Maud, worn out with age and 
afflictions, willingly waved the crown, and reigned 
in her own contentment, in seeing her son reign 
before her^ 
The body 55. Thoso who wero most able to advise them- 
oommon sclves, are most willing to be advised by others, as 
pned!**"" appeared by this politic prince. Presently he chooseth 
a privy council of clergy and temporalty, and refineth 
the common law ; yea, towards the end of his reign 
began the use of our itinerant judges^. The plat- 
form hereof he fetched from France, where he had 
his education, and where Charles the Bald, some 
hundreds of years before, had divided his land into 
twelve parts, assigning several judges for administra- 
tion of justice therein. Our Henry parcelled England 
into six divisions, and appointed three judges to 

i [Yet Maud certainly en- proved from records in the ex- 
joyed some degree of authority, chequer (Mad. 96.), that there 
For in the year 1 1 55 the ex- had been justices itinerant to 

Sedition for the conquest of hear causes in 18 Hen. I. The 

reland was put off because first appointment of them was 

she was not agreeable to it. probably made by Hen. I., in 

See Trivet. I. 31. It is pro- imitation of a similar institu- 

bable from the words of the tion introduced by Louis le 

same author, p. 24, that Maud Gros ; that it fell into disuse 

waved her right in favour of in the troublous reign of Ste- 

her son. She did not die till phen, and was revived and 

Sept. 109 1 1 67. See Trivet. I. fixed by Hen. II. See Reeve's 

50.] Hist, of English Law, I. 54. 

^ [It has been a general Gul. Neubrigens. also seems 

opinion, that Justices itinerant by his language to attribute 

were first appointed in the the revival only, and not the 

great council at Nottingham origin of these institutions to 

or Northampton, held 22 Hen. Henry. Hist. Angl. ii* i«] 
IL an. 1176. It is however 



CEKT.XII. 



of Britain. 



95 



every circuit, annuallj to visit the same. Succeeding a. ix 1155. 

kings (though changing the limits) have kept the 1 

same number of circuits; and let the skilful in 
arithmetic cast it up, whether our nation receiveth 
any loss, by the change of three judges every year, 
according to Henry the Second's institution, into 
two judges twice a year, as long since hath been 
accustomed. 

56. The laws thus settled, king Henry cast his a. 0.1156. 

I'-niTA i Castles de- 

eye on the numerous castles m England. As a good moUshed. 

reason of state formerly persuaded the building, so a 

better pleaded now for the demolishing of them^ 

William the Conqueror built most of them, and then 

put them hito the custody of his Norman lords, 

thereby to awe the Emglish into obedience. But 

these Norman lords in the next generation, by 

breathing in English air, and wedding with English 

wives, became so perfectly Anglized, and lovers of 

liberty, that they would stand on their guard against 

the king on any petty discontentment. If their 

castles (which were of proof against bows and arrows, 

the artillery of that age) could but bear the brunt of 

a sudden assault, they were privileged from any 

solemn siege, by their meanness and multitude, as 

whose several beleaguerings would not compensate 

the cost thereof. Thus as in foul bodies, the physic 

in process of time groweth so friendly and familiar 



1 [Trivet. I. 28. Among 
other means employed by 
Henry to reduce these castles 
and strongholds^ he command- 
ed all who held any of the 
royal domains to produce their 
charters which they had pro- 
cured from his predecessor^ 



and then seized them into his 
own hands on the plea that 
grants made by an invader 
were null and void : '* quoniam 
*' chartee invasoris juri l^timi 
** principis praejudicium ^Eu^re 
" minime debuerunt." Gul. 
Neubrig. ii. 2.] 



96 The Church History book hi. 

A. D.I 156. with the disease, that they at last side together, and 
^^^•"' both take part against nature in the patient ; so here 
it came to pass, that these castles, intended for the 
quenching, in continuance of time occasioned the 
kindling of rebellion. To prevent further mischief, 
king Henry razed most of them to the ground, and 
secured the rest of greater consequence into the 
hands of his confidents. If any ask how these castles 
belong to our Church-history, know that bishops of 
all in that age were the greatest traders in such 
fortifications. 
Thomas 57. Thomas Becket, bom in London, and (though 
dS^Uor^^ yet but a deacon) archdeacon of Canterbury, 
of England, doctor of cauou law, bred in the imiversities of 
Oxford, Paris, Bononia, was by the king made lord 
A.D. 1 157. chancellor of England. During which his oflSce, 
who braver than Becket? None in the court wore 
more costly clothes, mounted more stately steeds, 
made more sumptuous feasts, kept more jovial com- 
pany, brake more merry jests, used more pleasant 
pastimes™. In a word, he was so perfect a layman, 
that his parsonages of Bromfield, and St. Mary-hill 
in London, with other ecclesiastical cures, whereof 
he was pastor, might even look all to themselves, he 
A. D. 1158.*^''^^^? no care to discharge them. This is that 
Becket whose mention is so much in English, and 
miracles so many in popish writers. We will con- 
tract his acts in proportion to our history, remitting 
the reader to be satisfied in the rest from other 
authors. 
His great 58. Four years after, upon the death of Theobald, 
^^made Bccket was made by the king archbishop of Canter- 

™ [Trivet. I. 34. Gul. Neubrig. ii. 16. He had also a prebend 
in St. Paul's^ and at Lincoln. Stephanides, p. 12, 14.3 



CENT. XII. 



of Jiriiain, 



97 



bury". The first Enfflishman since the Conquest a. d. 1162. 

8 Hen II 

(and he but a mongrel, for his mother was a Syrian**, !_1 

the intercourse of the holy war in that age making ^cant»? 
matches betwixt many strangers) who was preferred **"'^- 
to that place. And now (if the monks their writing 
his life may be believed) followed in him a great 
and strange metamorphosis p. Instantly his clothes 
were reformed to gravity, his diet reduced to neces- 
sity, his company confined to the clergy, his expenses 
contracted to frugality, his mirth retrenched to 
austerity ; all his pastimes so devoured by his piety, 
that none could see the former chancellor Becket in 
the present archbishop Becket. Yea, they report, 
that his clothes were built three stories high ; next 
his skin he was a hermit, and wore sackcloth ; in the 
mid he had the habit of a monk ; and above all wore 
the garments of an archbishop. Now, that he might 
the more effectually attend his archiepiscopal charge, 
he resigned his chancellor's place, whereat the king 
was not a little offended. It added to his anger, 
that his patience was daily pressed with the impor- 
tunate petitions of people complaining that Becket 
injured them. Though generally, he did but recover 
to his church such possessions as by their covetous- 
ness, and his predecessors' connivance, had formerly 
been detained from it. 



^ [Theobald died April 18. 
I 161, according to Trivet. I. 
41. Thomas a Becket was 
elected to Canterbury 1162. 
ib. 42. See Gul. Neubrigens. 
H. 12 and 16. M. Paris, in an.] 

o [A very romantic account of 
his mother is told in theQuadri- 
Iogus,chap. 2. Yet William Ste- 
phanides describes Becket him- 
self (in his Epist. p. 167.) and 
his parents as respectable citi- 

FULLER, VOL. II. 



zens of London. VitaS.Thomae, 
p. I o, and this writer deserves 
much credit ; being, as he says, 
concivis, clericus, et convictor 
of Thomas a Becket ; his ail- 
viser when chancellor, sub- 
deacon of his chapel^ his reader 
and an\anuensis, the advocate 
in his causes, and an eye-wit- 
ness of his passion. Ib. p. i .] 

P [Stephanides, p. 24. Mat. 
Paris, a. 1 162. Trivet. I. 42.] 

H 



98 The Church History book hi. 

A. D. 1 163. 59* But the main matter incensing the king against 
' him was, his stubborn defending the clergy from the 
5^,^^!^ secular power: and particularly (what a great fire 
^^J^'*™ doth a small spark kindle !) that a clerk, having 
■gBintt killed and stolen a deer, ought not to be brought 

wcular ma* r>* t 

giitratef. boforc the civil magistrate for his punishment. Such 
impunities breeding impieties, turned the hotise of 
God into a den of thieves : many rapes, riots, rob- 
beries, murders, were then committed by the clergy. 
If it be rendered as a reason of the viciousness of 
Adonijah, that his father never said unto him. Why 
dost thou so ^f No wonder if the clergy of this age 
were guilty of great crimes, whom neither the king 
nor his judges durst call to an account. And seeing 
ecclesiastical censures extend not to the taking away 
of life or limb, such clerks as were guilty of capital 
faults were eithw altogether acquitted, or had only 
penance inflicted upon them ; a punishment far 
lighter than the offence did deserve. Indeed, it is 
most meet in matters merely ecclesiastical, (touching 
the word and sacraments,) clergymen be only answer- 
able for their faults to their spiritual superiors, as 
most proper, and best able to discern and censure 
the same. And in cases criminal, it is unfit that 
ministers should be summoned before each proud, 
pettish, petulant, pragmatical, secular under officer. 
However, in such causes to be wholly exempted from 
civil power, is a privilege which with reason cannot 
be desired of them, nor with justice indulged unto 
them. Sure I am, Abiathar (though high-priest) 
was convented before, and deposed by Solomon for 
his practising of treason. And St. Paul saith. Let 
evert/ soul be subject to the higher* powers^. 

4 1 Kings ]. 6. produced by the dissensions in 

r Rom. xiii. 1 , [The evils Stephen's time had not yet 



CENT. XII. 



of Britain. 



99 



60. To retrench these enormities of the clergy, a. d.i 165. 
the king called a parliament at Clarendon near Sa- 



He incurs 



lisbury, (and not in Normandy, as Mr. Fox will have the king's 
it,) intending, with the consent of his great council, ^"^^^^^^^ 
to confirm some severe laws of his grandfather king 
Henry the First. To these laws, sixteen in number*, 
Becket, with the rest of the bishops, consented and 
subscribed them. But afterwards recanting his own 
act, renounced the same. Let not therefore the 
crime of inconstancy be laid too heavily to the 
charge of archbishop Cranmer, first subscribing, then 
revoking popish articles presented unto him : seeing 
this his namesake Thomas, and predecessor Becket, 
without any stain to his saintship, retracted his own 
act, upon pretence of better information. But so 



ceased; they had secularized 
the clergy ; and the licentious- 
ness of the late reign which 
had diffused itself among all 
classes^ though now checked in 
the laity by the severity and 
judicial enactments of Henry, 
was still fatally spreading un- 
controlled among the clergy. 
The bishops, according to Gul. 
Neubrigens. (a writer whose 
judgment and candour are un- 
questionable), were more in- 
dustrious in defending the pri- 
vileges, than in correcting the 
vices of the clergy, conceiving 
that they did their duty to God 
and the church by supporting 
their order against the secular 
arm, whilst they neglected to 
restrain their vices with the ri- 
gour of ecclesiastical discipline. 
The picture this writer draws 
of the time« is appalling : '*Regi 
" circa curam regni satagenti 
*' et malefactores sine delectu 
** exterminari jubenti a judi- 



<t 



K 



<( 



tC 



** cibus intimatum est, quod 
" multa contra disciplinam 
** publicam, scilicet furta, ra- 
pinse, homicidia, a clericis 
ssepius committerentur, ad 
** quos scilicet laicx non pos- 
** set jurisdictionis vigor ex- 
" tendi. Denique ipso audi- 
'* ente declaratura dicitur, plus- 
*' quam centum homicidia intra 
fines Anglise a clericis sub 
regno ejus commissa." Hist. 
Ang. ii. 16. See also Stepha. 
nides, p. 28. Although the zeal 
of the king in correcting these 
abuses^ in which he was en- 
couraged by Becket, may have 
exceeded the bounds of mode- 
ration, it was hardly befitting 
in Becket, however upright his 
intentions, to screen from civil 
punishment offences committed 
by the clergy against the civil 
power.] 

8 See them at large in Mat. 
Paris, in an. [Wilkins, I. 

435-] 
H 2 



100 The Church History book hi. 

A. D. 1 165. highly was Becket offended with himself for his sub- 

Uscription, that, in revenge, for some months he 

suspended himself from all divine service, (his pride 
and laziness both before and after suspended him 
from ever preaching,) and would not be present 
thereat. Hereafter let none hope for more favour from 
this archbishop than their fact may deserve ; seeing 
he cannot rationally be expected to be courteous to 
others who was so severe unto himself The best 
was, in this his suspension the knot was not tied so 
hard as to hurt him ; who, in case of necessity, as 
he had bound, so he could loose himself : though, for 
the more state of the matter, pope Alexander himself 
was pleased solemnly to assoil him from his sus- 
pension ^ Meantime Becket, both in his suspension 
and absolution, most highly offended king Henry, 
who every day the more was alienated from, and in- 
censed against him. 
The vanity 61. During Bocket's abode about Clarendon, he 

of Becket*8 

path. is reported every morning to have walked from his 
lodging some miles to the king's palace. Where 
the ground, say they, called Becket's path, at this 
day presenteth itself to the eyes of the beholders, (but 
most quick-sighted, if looking through popish spec- 
tacles,) with the grass and grain growing thereon in 
a different hue and colour from the rest. A thing 
having in it more of report than truth ; yet more of 
truth than wonder : the discolorations of such veins 
of earth being common in grounds elsewhere, which 
never had the happiness of Becket his feet to go 
upon them. 

He flieth 62. But oh ! if Becket's feet had left but the like 



beyond sea 



* Fox his Mon., see the letter at large^ I. 269. [Mat. 
Paris, a. 1 1 64.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 101 

impresmon in all the ways he went, how easy had itA.D.1165. 
b0en for all men's eyes, and particularly for our pen, i! — — — '• 
to have tracked him in all his travels! Who, notk?ngWn* 
long after, without the consent of the king, took"®"** 
ship, sailed into Flanders, thence travelled into the 
southern parts of France, thence to Pontiniac, thence 
to Senes, abiding seven years in banishment. But 
though he served an apprenticeship in exile, he 
learned little humility thereby, only altering his 
name (for his more safety) from Becket to Derman ; 
but retaining all his old nature, remitting nothing of 
his rigid resolutions. 

63. Now, to avoid idleness, Becket, in his banish- How em- 
ment variously employed himself. First, in making his banish. 
and widening breaches between Henry his native ""*"** 
sovereign, and Lewis the French king. Secondly, 
in writing many voluminous letters of expostulation 
to princes and prelates ^ Thirdly, in letting fly his 
heavy excommunications against the English clergy ; 
namely, against Roger archbishop of York ; Gilbert 
Foliot bishop of London (a leameder man than him- 
self) ; Joceline bishop of Salisbury, and others. His 
chief quarrel with them was their adherence to the 
king ; and particularly, because the archbishop pre- 
sumed to crown Henry the king's son (made joint 
king in the life of his father), a privilege which 
Becket claimed, as proper to himself alone. Fourthly, 
in receiving comfort from, and returning it to pope 
Alexander at Beneventum in Italy. Sameness of 
affliction bred sympathy of affection betwixt them, 
both being banished ; the pope by Frederic Barba- 



V See them exemplified at large in Stapleton, De Tribusi 
Thomis, [p. 61. sq. ed. 1612.] 

H 3 



lOS 



The Church Hiitory 



BOOK III. 



A.D.ii67.rossa the emperor, for his pride and insolency^: as 

'^ "*' .'our Becket smarted for the same fault from king 

Henry. Here also Becket solemnly resigned his 
archbishopric to the pope, as troubled in conscience 
that he had formerly took it as illegally from the 
king, and the pope again restored it to him, whereby 
all scruples in his mind were fully satisfied^. 
A. D. 1 1 70. 64. But afterwards by mediation of friends Becket's 
died to the reconciliation was wrought, and leave given him to 
^^' return into England y. However, the king still re- 
tained his temporals in his hand, on weighty consi- 
derations. Namely, to show their distinct nature 
from the spirituals of the archbishopric, to which 
alone the pope could restore him: lay-lands being 
separable from the same, as the favour of secular 
princes: and Becket's bowed knee must own the 
king's bountiful hand before he could receive them. 
Besides, it would be a caution for his good be- 
haviour. 



^ [The emperor supported 
the claims of Victor the anti- 
pope. See Gul. Neubrigens. 
ii. 9.] 

X [This also he appears to 
have done, though secretly, 
when present at the council of 
Tours in 1 163. See Gul. Neu- 
brigens. ii. 16.] 

y [Trivet. I. 55. This re- 
conciliation took place at the 
instance of the pope and the 
king of France in 1 1 70, seven 
years after Becket's exile^ Gul. 
Neubrigens, ii. 25. The arch- 
bishop's conduct was most un- 
generous. In his absence, Ro. 
ger archbishop of York, at- 
tended by others of the bishops> 
consecrated^ at the king*s de- 
sire, his eldest son prince 



Henry. Enraged at this breach 
of privilege, Becket secretly 
procured letters from the pope^ 
suspending the bishops from 
their function who had assisted 
at the ceremony. Immediately 
after his reconciliation with 
the king, which took place at 
Gisors in Normandy, before 
the archbishop could reach 
England he sent forward those 
letters, which were instantly 
put in execution, and the bi- 
shops suspended. Disgusted at 
this stubbornness and want of 
temper on Becket's part, the 
king uttered some hasty words, 
which led to the catastrophe 
mentioned in the text. See 
Gul. Neubrigens. ii. 25.] 



CBVT. XII. of Britain. 103 

65. Ccelum non animum. Travellers change cli-A.D.1170. 

mates, not conditions. Witness our Becket, stubborn '— 

he went over, stubborn he stayed, stubborn he re-obsti^^t 
turned. Amongst many things which the kingJ^^JT®"* 
desired and he denied, he refused to restore the 
excommunicated bishops, pretending he had no 
power, (indeed he had no will,) and that they were 
excommunicate by his holiness. Yea he, instead of 
recalling his old, added new excommunications ; and 

that thunder which long before rumbled in his 
threatenings, now gave the crack upon all those that 
detained his temporal revenues. Roger Hoveden 
reports', that upon Christmas-day (the better day 
the better deed) he excommunicated Robert de 
Broc, because the day before he had cut off one of his 
horses' tails. Yea he continued and increased his 
insolence against the king and all his subjects. 

66. Here the kinff let fell some discontented words, I* ^^^ *»y 
which instantly were catched up in the ears of some in his own 
courtiers attending him®. He complained that never 
sovereign kept such lazy subjects and servants, 
neither concerned in their king's credit, nor sensible 

of his favours conferred on them, to suffer a proud 
prelate so saucily to affront him. Now a low hollow, 
and a less clap with the hand, will set fierce dogs on 
wonying their prey. A quaternion of courtiers 
being present ; namely, 

i. Sir Richard Breton, of which name (as I take 
it) a good family at this day is extant in North- 
amptonshire. 

ii. Sir Hugh Morvile of Kirk-Oswald in Cumber- 
land, where his sword wherewith he slew Becket 

z [Annales, f. 298.] » [Trivet, ib. Stephanides, 78.5 

H 4 



104 The Church History book hi. 

/i.D. 1170. was kept a long time in memorial of his fact**. His 

family at this day extmct, 

iii. Sir William Tracey, whose heirs at this day 
flourish in a worthy and worshipful equipage at To- 
dington in Gloucestershire. 

iv. Sir Reginald Fitz-Urse, or, Bear's-43on<^. His 
posterity was afterwards men of great lands and 
command in the county of Monaghan in Ireland, 
being there called Mac-mahon, which in Irish signi- 
fieth the " son of a bear^." 

These four knights, applying the king's general 
reproof to themselves, in their preproperous passions 
misinteri)reted his complaint, not only for Becket's 
legal condemnation, but also for their warrant for 
his execution. Presently they post to Canterbury, 
where they find Becket in a part of . his church, 
(since called the martyrdom,) who, though warned of 
their coming, and advised to avoid them, would not 
decline them, so that he may seem to have more 
mind to be killed than they had to kill him. Here 
happened high expostulation, they requiring restitu- 
tion of the excommunicated bishops®; whose per- 
emptory demands met with his pertinacious denials, 
as then not willing to take notice of Solomon his 
counsel, A soft answer pacifieth wrath ^. Brawls 
breed blows, and all four falling upon him, with the 
help of the fifth, an officer of the church called 
Hugh, the ill-clerk, each gave him a wound, though 
that with the sword dispatched him, which cut off his 
crown from the rest of his head 8^. 

b Camd. Brit, in Cumber- ^ [^Camden, ibid.] 

land, p. 640. e [Gul. Neubrigens, ii. 25.] 

c Others call him Walter. ^ Prov. xv. i. 

See Camd. Brit, in Ireland, e [Their intention at first 

p. 764. was not to have killed the 



CEKT. XII. 



of Britain. 



105 



67. A barbarous murder, and which none will goA.D.i.,o. 

ill Hon TT 

about to excuse, but much heightened both by the 1—1 

prose aiid poetry (good and bad) of popish writers in^lJ^J^on 
that age. Of the last and worst sort, I account that^^' ^^^ 
distich (not worthy the translating) one verse whereof, 
on each leaf of the door of Canterbury choir, is yet 
legible in part ; 

Est sacer intra locus, venerabilis atque beatus^ 
Prsesul ubi sanctus Thomas est martyrizatus ^. 

But if he were no truer a martyr than martyrizatus 
is true position, his memory might be much sus- 
pected. More did the muses smile on the author of 
the following verses. 

Pro Christi spoiisa, Christi sub tempore, Christi 

In templo, Christi verus amator obit. 
Quis moritur ? Praesul. Cur ? Pro grege. Qualiter ? Ense. 

Quando ? Natali. Quis locus ? Ara Dei. 

For Christ his spouse, in Christ's church, at the tide 

Of Christ his birth, Christ his true lover died. 
Who dies .^ A priest. Why? For's flock. How? By the sword. 

When ? At Christ's birth. Where ? Altar of the Lord. 

Here I understand not how properly it can be said, 



archbishop, evidently, as they 
entered without arms, but to 
compel him by threats and ex- 
postulations to remove the 
sentence of excommunication 
which he had laid upon the 
bishops, as a punishment un- 
deserved by them, and a great 
indignity to the king. Their 
persuasions were vain, and 
served only to heighten their 
passion, upon which they rush- 
ed out^ resolved to And arms, 
and to slay the prelate. In the 
interval Becket was carried by 
his friends into the church, 



with the hope that the sanctity 
of the place would protect 
him. It was the time when 
the monks were chanting the 
evening service, and just before 
the archbishop was preparing 
to celebrate vespers (sacrificium 
vespertinum), when they fell 
upon him, and murdered him 
before the altar. This hap- 
pened upon Christmas day (in 
ipsis Christi natalitiis). Gul. 
Neubrigens. ii. 25.] 

h William Somner in his 
Antiquities of Canterbury, p. 
166. 



106 



The Church HUtary 



BOOK ni. 



A.D. 117a that Becket died pro grege, " for his flock.** He did 

^not die for feeding his flock, for any fundamental 

point of religion, or for defending his flock against 
the wolf of any dangerous doctrine ; but merely he 
died for his flock; namely, that the sheep thereof 
(though ever so scabbed) might not be dressed with 
tar and other proper (but sharp and smarting) medi- 
cines. I mean, that the clergy might not be punished 
by the secular power for their criminal enormities. 
Sure I am, a learned and moderate writer of that 
age passeth this character upon him : Q^{B ah ipso 
acta sunt — Umdanda 7iequaqtiam censuerinij licet ea 
laudabili zelo processerint '. " Such things as were 
" done by him, I conceive not at all to be praised, 
" though they proceeded from a laudable zeal." But 
Stapleton calls this his judgment : Audacis monachi 
censura non tarn politica^ quam plane ethnica^ " The 
" censure of a bold monk, not so much politic as 
" heathenisW." Should another add of Stapleton, 
that this his verdict is the unchristian censure of a 
proud and partial Jesuit, railing would but beget 
railing, and so it is better to remit all to the day of 
the revelation of the righteous judgment of God^. 
The heavy 68. Now king Henry, though unable to revive 
performed Bcckct, shcwcd as much sorrow himself for his 
j^eniTf death as a living man could express; and did the 
other as much honour as a dead man could receive^. 



i Gulielmus Neubrigensis^ 
[ii. 15.] 

J In tribus Thomis, [p. 37.] 

^ Rom. ii. 5. 

I [The king was acquitted 
of aU guilt by the two legates 
of the pope, who in 1172 ar- 
rived at Caen in Normandy 
with a commission to investi- 



gate this murder. *' Et ideo 
** de mandato summi pontificis 
^* post purgationem canon icam 
'* acceptam, publice sententia- 
** verunt regem ab hoc cri- 
'* mine innoxium esse coram 
** Deo £t hominibus." Trivet. 
I. 58. "See also Gul. Neubrig. 
ii. 25.] 



CENT. xu. cf Britain. 107 

First, searching after all his kindred, (as most capable a. d. 1170. 
of his kindness,) he found out his two sisters. One ! — — — \ 
Mary, a virgin, not inclinable to marry, whom he 
preferred abbess of the rich nimnery of Berking. 
His other nameless sister, being married to one of 
the Le Botelers, or Butlers, he transplanted, with 
her husband and children, into Ireland n^, conferring 
upon them high honours and rich revenues; from 
whom the earls of Ormond are at this day descended. 
He founded also the magnificent abbey called 
Thomas-Court in Dublin", (in memory of the said a. d. 1174. 
Thomas Becket, and expiation of his murder,) beau- 
tifying the same with fair buildings, and enriching it 
with large possessions. Nor did only the purse, but 
the person of king Henry do penance. Who walking 
some miles barefoot, suffered himself to be whipped 
on the naked back by the monks of Canterbury^ 
As for the four knights who murdered him, the pope 
pardoned them, but conditionally, to spend the rest 
of their lives in the holy war, (where the king, as 
part of his penance enjoined by the pope, main- 
tained two hundred men for one year on his proper 
charges,) to try whether they could be as courageous 
in killing of Turks, as they had been cruel in murder- 
ing a Christian. 

69. And now, being on this subject, once to Becket 
dispatch Becket out of our way, just a jubilee ofyea^enf 

shrinecL 

^ Camden's Brit, in Ireland^ cares and difficulties which 

p. 743. then surrounded him, from the 

Ti Idem, p. 75 1 . disobedience of his sons and 

o [Trivet. I. 65. Henry did rebellions of his nobles, to his 

penance at the shrine of Becket participation in Becket's death, 

about 1174, apparently trou- See an amusing account of this 

bled by a scruple of conscience, penance, and the effect which 

or desirous to attribute (in it produced, in Gul. Neubri. 

order to remove odium) the gens. ii. 34.] 



\. 



108 The Church History book hi. 

A. D.I 1 74. years after his death, Stephen Langton, his mediate 

successor, removed his body from the imder-croft in 

Christ Church, where first he was buried, and laid him 
at his own charge in a most sumptuous shrine at the 
east end of the church. Here the rust of the sword 
that killed him was after\i'ards tended to pilgrims to 
kiss P. Here many miracles were pretended to be 
wrought by this saint, in number two hundred and 
seventyn. They might well have been brought up to 
four hundred, and made as many as Baal's lying 
prophets : though even then, one prophet of the 
Lord, one Micaiah, one true miracle were worth 
them all. 
The blind 70. It is almost incredible what multitudes of 
of people, people flocked yearly to Canterbury, (which city 
lived by Becket's death,) especially on his jubilee, or 
each fifty years after his enshrining. No fewer than 
an hundred thousand (we find it at words in length, 
and therefore a cipher is not mistaken) of English 
and foreigners repaired thither'. And, though great 
the odds in hardness between stones and flesh, there 
remains at this day in the marble the prints of their 
superstition who crept and kneeled to his shrine. 
The revenues whereof by people's offerings amounted 
to more than six hundred pounds a year. And the 
same accomptant, when coming to set down what 
then and there was offered to Christ's, or the high 
• 

P Erasmi Colloquia in Dia- had witnessed.] 

log. 1 . Religionis ergo, [p. 330. ^ Fox, Acts and Mon. p. 493 . 

ed.i668. This dialogue contains [An account of his miracles is 

a most amusing description of prefixed to his Epistolse, &c., 

the shrine of Thomas a Becket, p. 143, by Ch, Lupus. Brux- 

and the ceremonies used by ellis, 1682.] 

those who went upon a j)il- r Wil. Somner ut prius, p. 

grlmage to it. Erasmus doubt- 249. 
less narrates what he himself 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 109 

altar, dispatcheth all with a blank, siimmo altan m/.A.D. 1174. 

Yea, whereas before Becket's death the cathedral in '—^ 

Canterbury was called Christ's Church, it passed 
afterwards for the church of St. Thomas ; verifying 
therein the complaint of Mary Magdalene, " sustu- 
" lerunt Dominum," Thet/ have taken away theLord^. 
Though since, by the demolishing of Becket's shrine, 
the church (and that justly) hath recovered its true 
and ancient name. 

8 John xii. 13. 



SECT. IL 



DOMINO 
JOANNI WYRLEY, 

DE WYRLEY-HALL, 
IN COM. STAFFORD, EQUITI AURATO.* 

Lex Mahometica jubefy tit Tnrcarum quisque mechanioB 
arti incumbat. Hinc esty qnod^ vel inter Ottomanicos 
imperatores, hie faber^ ille sartor^ hie totus est in haU 
theorum bullisy ille in sagittarum pennis concinnandisj 
proiit quisque sua indole trahaturK 

hex mihi partim placet ^ partim displicet. Placet industrial 
ne animi otii rubigine obducti sensim torpescerent. Dis- 
plicet ingenuas mentes servili operi damnari^ cum hu- 
mile nimis sit et abjectum. 

At utinam vel leXj vel legis cemula consuetudo, inter An- 
glos ohtinerety ut nostrates nobiles, ad unum. omnes, 
meliori literatures litarent. Hoc si fiat uberrimos 
fructns respublica perceptura esset ab illisy qui nunc 
absque musarum cultu penifus sterilescunt. 

Tu vero, doctissime milesy es perpaucorum hominum^ qui 
ingenium tuum nobilitate premi non sinis^ sed artes 



a [Arms. Argent, three 
bugle horns sab. stringed vert, 
two and one. Sir John Wyrley 
of Wyrley-hall, Hampstead, 
county Suffolk, was the four- 
teenth in lineal descent of an 
ancient family seated there as 
early as the reign of Edward 
the First. He was son and 
heir to Humphry Wyrley, esq., 
and, according to a memoran- 
dum certified by himself in 



the county visitation, 1663, 
was born on the 1 2th of April 
1607. H® received the honour 
of knighthood from king 
Charles the First at Whitehall 
June 4, 1 641, and married 
Mary, daughter of sir Francis 
Wolley of Preston, county 
Surrey, knight.] 

^ Edw. Sandys in suis pere- 
grinationibus. 



CENT. XII. The Church Htstary of Britain. 



Ill 




ingenncLSy quas Oxonii dididsti juvenisj vir assidue 
colis, Gestit itaque liber noster te patrono ; quo non 
alter aut in notandis inendis oculatior^ out in condo- 

nandts clementior, 

— ) 

VEN among8t all the stripes given him a.d. 1174. 

since the death of Becket, none made '—^ 

deeper impression in king Henry s soul, tifuineM of 
than the undutifulness of Heniy his^^. ^ 
eldest son, whom he made (the foolish 
act of a wise king) joint king with himself in his 
lifetime^. And, as the father was indiscreet to put 
off so much of his apparel before he went to bed, so 
the son was more unnatural, in endeavouring to rend 
the rest from his back, and utterly to disrobe him of 
all regal power. The clergy were not wanting in 
their plentiful censures, to impute this mischance to 
the king, as a Divine punishment on Becket's death ; 
that his natural son should prove so undutifiil to him, 
who himself had been so unmerciful to his spiritual 
father^. But this rebellious child passed not un- 
punished. For as he honoured not his father, so his 
days were few in the land which the Lord gave him. 
And as he made little account of his own father, so 
English authors make no reckoning of him in the 
catalogue of kings. This Henry the Third being 



<* [The disobedience of Hen- 
ry's sons was a just judgment 
upon himself for breaking the 
oath imposed upon him by his 
father in reference to his bro- 
thers. See Gul. Neubrigens. 
ii. 7. For an account of the 
rebellions of Henry's sons, see 
Gul. Neubrigens. ii. 27. sq. 
The nobles, and among the 
first, Thomas Becket, then 
chancellor, swore fealty to him^ 



a. 1 162. M. Paris, s. a. He 
was consecrated and crowned 
at London, during his father's 
lifetime, in 1 1 70, by Roger 
archbishop of York, Thomas a 
Becket the archbishop of Can- 
terbury being at that time in 
France, and not yet reconciled 
to the king. Gul. Neubrigens. 
ii. 25.] 

** [See Gul. Neubrigens. iii. 



112 



The Churtk Hisionf 



III. 



A.i>.fi;4. whollv omitted, because dring during the life of his 

to Hen. If. r ^L * 

father. 



UiAmM 
nude an 

Canter- 
kary. 



2. But before this Ilenrv's death. Richard prior of 
Dover, who divided Kent into three archdeaconries, 
was made arch1>isho|> of Canterbury^ Indeed the 
place was fir^t proffered to Robert, abbot of Becco 
in Normandy, (8ec{uents of three, if he had accepted 
it, Anselm, Theobald, and this Robert, who in the 
compass of seventy years out of the same abbey 
were made archbishops of Canterbury,) but he refused 
it, as ominous to succeed Becket in his chair, lest he 
should succeed him in his coffin; and preferred a 
whole skin before an holy pall. But Richard accept- 
ing the place, is commended for a mild and moderate 
man, being all for accommodation, and his temper 
the best exi>edient betwixt the iK)pe and king; 
pleasing the former with presents, the latter with 
cx>mpliancc^. This made him connive at GeflBrey 
i^lantagenet his holding the bishopric of Lincoln, 
though uncanonicalness on imcanonicalness met in 
his person. For first, he was a bastard. Secondly, 



e [Trivet. I. 59.] 

' [He was of so easy a tem- 

I)cr, that Peter of Blois wrote 
liin a letter expostulating with 
him for his remissness, as he 
terms it^ but praising his inno- 
cence and humility. See Epist. 
Blesen. ep. 5. Trivet gives 
him this character : ** Fuit iste 
'* llicardus vir magnse religio- 
" nis et in exteriorum admini- 
" stratione industrius ; sed in 
*' corrigendis excessibus defen- 
'* dendisque ecclesise libertati- 
" bus de nimia remissione no- 
*' tatus: in tantum quod rex 
*' qui eum specialiter diligebat 
*' Gt contra turbatores ejus in 
" curia Romana se pro eo op- 



" ponebat ipsius incuriam ac 
*' desidiam secreta tamen cor- 
** reptione dicitur arguisse." 
I. 64. According to the same 
author, he was the first person 
who procured the abolition of 
a custom which up to his time 
prevailed in England. If any 
one killed a person in holy 
orders, the church was satisfied 
merely with excommunicating 
the offender, and did not have 
recourse to the arm of the law 
(*• materialis opem gladii non 
'* quaesivit.") ib. I. 68. He 
held the see of Canterbury 
nine years, forty-five weeks, 
and five days. ib. 85.] 



CENT. XII. 



of Britain, 



118 



he was never in orders. Thirdly, he was under age ; a. d. 1 174. 

all which irregularities were answered in three words, -' 

The king's son. This was that Jeffery who used to 
protest by the royalty of the king his father, when a 
stander by minded him to remember the honesty of 
his mothers^. 

3, A synod was called at Westminster, the pope's a. d.i 176. 
legate being present thereat; on whose right handtro^e«y' 
sat Richard archbishop of Canterbury, as in Ws ^^JJ^^^Jj^^j 
proper place. When in springs Roger of York, and^^<* ^'o^'^' 
finding Canterbury so seated, fairly sits him down on cedency. 
Canterbury's lap, (a baby too big to be danced 
thereon,) yea, Canterbury his servants dandled this 
lap-child with a witness, who plucked him thence, 
and buffeted him to purpose^. Hence began the 
brawl which often happened betwixt- the two sees 
for precedency; though hitherto we have passed 
them over in silence, not conceiving ourselves bound 
to trouble the reader every time these archbishop's 
troubled themselves. And though it matters as 
little to the reader as to the writer, whether Roger 
beat Richard, or Richard beat Roger ; yet once for 
all, we will reckon up the arguments which each see 
alleged for its precedency*. 



g [Trivet. I. 63. This Jef- 
frey» though elected, appears 
never to have been consecrated 
Inshop of Lincoln. After he 
had held the see nine years^ 
he relinquished it^ and was 
made chancellor in 1182, (See 
Trivet. I. 82. Gul. Neubri- 
gens. ii. 22.) chiefly for taking 
part with the king when his 
sons rebelled against him. Gi- 
rald. Cambrensis in vit. in Ang. 
Sacr. II. 380. ibid. 418. Gul. 

FULI^B, VOL. II. 



Neub. ii. 27 and 32^ and was 
afterwards appointed to York 
in the first year of his brother 
Richard's reign, that see ha v. 
ing remained vacant for ten 
years from the avarice of 
Henry, Gul. Neubrigens, iv. 2, 
Hoveden and Gervasius in an.] 
^ [Gul. Neubrigens. iii. i.] 
^ [The arguments for botli 
sides are much more carefully 
and explicitly stated by Gul. 
Neub. V. 12.] 



114 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A. D. 1176. 
ai Hen. II. 



Canterbury's title. 

1. No catholic person will 
deny but that the pope is the 
fountain of spiritual honour^ 
to place and displace at plea- 
sure. He first gave the pri- 
macy to Canterbury : yea, 
whereas the proper place of 
the archbishop of Canterbury 
in a general council was next 
the bishop of St. Ruffinus; 
Anselm and his successors 
were advanced by pope Urban 
to sit at the pope's right foot^ 
as aUerius orbis papa. 

2. The English kings have 
ever allowed the priority to 
Canterbury. For a duarchy 
in the church {vis. two arch- 
bishops equal in power) being 
inconsistent with a monarchy 
in the. state^ they have ever 
countenanced the superiority 
of Canterbury, that the church 
government might be uniform 
with the commonwealth's. 

3. Custom hath been ac- 
counted a king in all places, 
which time out of mind hath 
dedded the precedency to Can- 
terbury. 



York's title. 

1 . When Gr^ory the Great 
made York and Canterbury ar- 
chiepiscopal sees, he affixed 
precedency to neither, but that 
the archbishops should take 
place according to the seni- 
ority of their consecrations. 
Until Landfranc, chaplain to 
king William, (thinking good 
reason he should conquer the 
whole clergy of England, as 
his master had vanquished th-j 
nation,) usurped the supe^ 
riority above the see of York. 

2. If antiquity be to be re- 
spected, long before Gregory's 
time York was the see of an 
archbishop, whilst as yet pagan 
Canterbury was never dreamed 
of for that purpose. Lucius 
the first Christian Britain king, 
founding a cathedral therein, 
and placing Samson in the 
same, who had Taurinus, Py- 
rannus, Tadiacus, &c., his 
successors in that place. 

3. If the extent of jurisdic- 
tion be measured, York, though 
the lesser in England, is the 
larger in Britain, as which at 
this time had the entire king- 
dom of Scotland subject there- 
unto ; besides, if the three 
bishoprics, (viz. Worcester, 
Lichfield, Lincoln,) formerly 
injuriously taken from York, 
were restored unto it, it would 
vie English latitude vdth Can- 
terbury itself. 



CENT. XII. of Britain, 115 

This controversy lasted for many years; it was first a. d T176. 

visibly begun (passing by former private grudges) be- '■ — 

twixt Landfranc of Canterbury, and Thomas of York, 
in the reign of the Conqueror, continued betwixt 
William of Canterbury and Thurstan of York, in the 
days of king Henry the First; increased betwixt 
Theobald of Canterbury and William of York at the 
coronation of Henry the Second, and now revived 
betwixt Richard of Canterbury and Roger of York 
with more than ordinary animosityj. 

4. Some will wonder that such spiritual persons How much 
should be so spiteful, that they, who should rather the most 
have contended de pascendis ovibus^ " which of them *p*"^"*' * 
" shoidd better feed their flocks," should fall out de 

lana caprina^ about a toy and trifle, only for priority. 
Yet such will cease to wonder, when they consider 
how much carnality there was in the disciple's them- 
selves : witness their unseasonable contest just before 
our Saviour's death, quis esset major^y " which of 
" them should be the greater," when then the ques- 
tion should rather have been, quis esset mcestior^ not 
who should be the highest, but who should be the 
heaviest for their departing Master. 

5. Here the pope interposed, and to end old divi- The pope's 

decision 

sions, made a new distinction, primate of all England, gives hnai 
and primate of England, giving the former to Can- ^^^"* "^^ '***^' 
terbury, the latter to York. Thus when two children 
cry for the same apple, the indulgent father divides 
it betwixt them, yet so that he giveth the bigger 
and better part to the child that is his darling. York 
is fain to be content therewith, though full ill against 
his will, as sensible that a secondary primacy is no 

J [See a treatise on the subject in the Ang. Sac. I. 65.] 
^ Luke xxii. 24. 

i2 



\ 



116 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1176. primacy; and as one stomaching a superior as much 
^ 'qq Canterbury disdamed an equal. Yea, on every 
little occasion this controversy brake out again. The 
last flash which I find of this flame was in the reign 
of king Edward the First, when William Wickham, 
archbishop of York, at a council at Lambeth for 
reformation, would needs have his cross carried before 
him, which John Peckham archbishop of Canterbury 
would in no case permit to be done in his province. 
Wherefore the said Peckham inhibited all fix)m sell- 
ing victuals to him or his family, so hoping to allay 
his stomach by raising his hunger, and starve him 
into a speedy submission, which accordingly came to 
pass. Since York was rather quiet than contented, 
pleasing itself that as stout came behind as went 
before ^ But at this day the clergy, sensible of God's 
hand upon them for their pride and other offences, 
are resolved on more himiility, and will let it alone 
to the laity to fall out about precedency. 

The far 6. To rctum to king Henry, never did the branches 

extended /• t t% -,, t 1 i.i -i 

English of the £inglish monarchy sprout higher, or spread 

monarchy i j i /• . • i-i • o *i_ • i • 

in this broader before or smce, as m the reign of this king, 
1^£ 8^ large and united his command, though in several 
capacities ; for by right of inheritance fix)m his 
mother Maud, he held England and the dukedom of 
Normandy ; by the same title from his father, Jeffery 
Plantagenet, he possessed fair lands in Anjou and 
Maine ; by match in right of queen Eleanor his wife, 
he enjoyed the dukedoms of Aquitane and Guienne, 
even to the Pyrenean mountains; by conquest he 
lately had subdued Ireland, leaving it to his successors 
annexed to the English dominions ; and for a time 

1 Mr. Isaacson out of Florilegus, [i. e. Mat. Westmoi^.] in 
his Chronologie, anno 1279. [p. 454. ed. 1633.] 



CEKT.Xfi. of Britain. 117 

was the effectual king of Scotland, whilst keeping a. 0.1177. 
William their king a prisoner, and acting at pleasure ^^ ^' 
in the southern parts thereof. The rest of Christen- 
dom he may be said to have held by way of arbi- 
tration, as Christiani orbis arbiter^ so deservedly did 
foreign princes esteem his wisdom and integrity, that 
in all difficult controversies he was made umpire 
betwixt them. 

7. Yet all this his greatness could neither preserve Oouia n«t 
him from death, nor make him, when living, happy fortimate^in 
in his own house ; so that when freest from foreign ^^|™ 
foes, he was most molested in his own family, his 
wife and sons at last siding with the king of France 
against him, the sorrow whereat was conceived to 
send him the sooner to his grave™. I meet with 
this distich as parcel of his epitaph. 



™ [See liis letter to the pope, " runt animam meam." 

A. D. 1 1 73, imploring his as- He was certainly exposed to 

sistance against the malice of much affliction. He was sepa- 

his sons. Trivet. I. 62. Petri rated from his wife, who had 

Blesen. epist. 136. In this joined his sons in their unna- 

letter he says, '' Longe lateque tural rebellion ; which however 

'* divulgata est meorum iilio- is not surprising^ since he neg- 

*' rum malitia, quos ita in exi- lected her bed, as Gul. Neu- 

*' tium patris spiritus iniquita- brigens. expresses it : ** regina 

" tis armavit ut gloriam repu- '* pro tempore sufflcienter usus 



«• 



tent et triumphum patrem '* ad sobolem, ea desinente pa- 

•' persequi et filiales afFectus " rere, sectando voluptatem 

'^ in omnibus diffiteri. Et '* spurios fecit." iii. 26. (Pet, 

'* quod sine lachrymis non dico Blesens. ep. 1 54.)» ^^^ detained 
'* contra sanguinem meum et her in custody for ten years 
** viscera mea cogor odium (Trivet. I. 75, 97.). His sons, 
'* mortale concipere et extra- and particularly his second- 
•* neos mihi quaerere succes- bom, Henry, was twice in re- 
sores, ne videam de semine bellion against him, and died 
meo sedentem super thronum in 1183. ** Mortem vero ejus 
meum. lUud prseterea sub '' rex pater inconsolabiliter di- 
'* silentio transire non possum, " citur deplorasse." ib. 85. 
*' quod amid mei recesserunt Three years after died JefFry 
" a me et domestic! mei quse- duke of Britanny, his tliird 

I 3 



4€ 



1 18 The Cumh Hisiwy booe ni 

A. n. 1 1 j>9. Cui sads ad votum non essent omnia teme 
' ^^^ '• Climata, terra modo suffidt octo pedum °. 

He whom alive the world would scarce suffice. 
When dead, in eight foot earth contented lies. 

He died at Cbinon in Normandy, and was buried 
with very great solemnity in the nmmery of Font- 
Everard in the same country. A religious house of 
his own foundation and endowments 
iwtwbedi- 8. It is confidently reported p, that when Richard, 
▼mired to SOU and succcssor to king Henry, approached his 
byw'^^ father's dead corpse, it bled afresh at the nostrils ; 
•titioii. whence some collected him the cause of his death. 
But whilst nature's night councillors (treading in the 
dark causes of hidden qualities) render the reason of 
the sallying forth of the blood on such occasions, let 
the learned in the laws decide how far such an acci- 
dent may be improved for a legal evidence. For 
surely that judge is no better than a murderer, who 
condemneth one for murder on that proof alone. 
However, on the bleeding of the father's nostrils, the 
son's heart could not but bleed, as meeting there 
with a guilty conscience. And therefore, (according 
to the divinity and devotion of those days,) to expiate 
his disobedience, he undertook with Philip Augustus, 
king of France, a long voyage against Sultan SaJadin, 
to recover Christ his grave, and the city of Jeru- 
salem, from the Turks in Palestine. 

son (ib. 87.), Gul. Neubrigens. was his favourite. See Gul. 

iii. 7. His eldest son William Neubrigens. iii. 25.] 
died ill 1 156. ^ Mat. Paris, p. 151. 

In the end the king died of o [Trivet. I. 95, Gul. Neu- 

a fever contracted from grief brigens. iii. 25.] 
and vexation at the rebellion P Mat. Paris, ut prius. 

of his sons Richard and John^ [Hoveden, f. 372.] 
especially of the latter, who 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 119 

9. Having formerly written an whole book of theA.D.noo. 
holy war*!, and particularly of king Richard's achieve- ' ' ' ' 
ments therein, I intend here no repetition ; only our ^" i^^**' 
design is to give a catalogue of some of our English *****^- 
nobility who adventured their persons in the holy 

war, and whose male posterity is eminently extant 
at this day. I have known an excellent musician, 
whom no arguments could persuade to play, until 
hearing a bungler scrape in the company, he snatched 
the instrument out of his hand, (in indignation that 
music should be so much abused,) then tuned and 
played upon it himself. My project herein is, that 
giving in an imperfect list of some few noble families 
who engaged themselves in this service, it will so 
offend some eminent artist, (hitherto silent in this 
kind,) that out of disdain he will put himself upon 
so honourable a work, deserving a gentleman who 
hath lands, learning, and leisure, to undertake so 
costly, intricate, and large a subject, for the honour 
of our nation. And be it premised, that to prevent 
all cavils about precedency, first come, first served ; 
I shall marshal them in no other method, but as 
in my studies I have met with the mention of them. 

10. To begin with the place of my present habita- 
tion ; one Hugh Nevil attended king Richard into Nevii Kii. 
the holy war, and anciently lieth buried in a marble perfr 



tcrm- 



nionument in the church of Waltham Abbey inp'J^^*j^„g 
Essex, whereof no remainders at this day. This 
Hugh Nevil being one of the king's special familis^rs, 
slew a lion in the Holy Land, first driving an arrow 
into his breast, and then running him through with 
his sword, on whom this verse was made, 

[q The Historie of the Holy Warre. Camb. 1639.] 

I 4 



\ ; 



ISO 



The Church History 



BOOK IK. 



A. l). 1190. 
I Rich 1. 



Viribus Hugonis vires periere leonis. 

The strength of Hugh 
A lion 8lew<). 

If Benaiah the son of Jehoiadah was recounted the 

fifth amongst David's worthies for killing a lion in 

the midst of a pit in tlie time ofsnow^y surely on the 

same reason this bold and brave baron Hugh ought 

to be entered into the catalogue of the heroes of his 

sovereign. But I cannot give credit to his report, 

who conceiveth that the achievement of the man 

was translated to his master*; and that on this 

occasion king Richard the First got the name of 

Coeur de lion, or lion's heart. 

Anomtort 11. This Hugh Ncvil gave the manor of Thomdon 

»id nu- * to Waltham abbey, and was ancestor of the noble 

Ne^il' ^^^ numerous family of the Nevils* ; to which none 



4 Mat. PariSi an. 122a. [p. 
315. In his history of Wal- 
tham-abbey, p. 20, Fuller 
speaking of this Hugh Neville 
Rays : ** He was interred in 
" Waltham abbey, says my au- 
•'thor, [Mat. Paris, p. 315.] 
" ' in nobili sarcophago mar- 
'* moreo et insculpto/ in a 
'' noble coffin of marble e»- 
** graved. If a coffin be called 
'* sarcophagus from consuming 
** the corpse, surely sacrilege 
" may be named sarcophago^ 
" phagus, which at this day 
'* hath devoured that coffin 
*' and all belonging thereunto." 
This was written in 1655.] 

>* 2 Sam. xxiii. 20. 

® Weever's Fun.. Mon. p. 
644. [ed. 163T.] 

t Registrum Cart. Abbat. de 
Waltham. [Of this book Fuller 



thus speaks in his Hist, of 
Waltham -Abbey, p. 7. " Know, 
•* reader, that whatever here. 
'' after I allege touching the 
'* lands and liberties of Wal- 
*' tham, if not otherwise at- 
*' tested by some author in the 
'* margin, is by me faithfully 
" transcribed out of Waltham 
" Leger-book, now in the pos- 
'* session of the right honour- 
•' able James [Hay] earl of 
*• Carlisle. This book was 
" collected by Robert Fuller, 
" the last abbot of Waltham, 
" who though he could not 
*' keep his abbey from disso- 
" lution, did preserve the anti- 
" quities thereof from oblivion. 
" The book, as appears by 
" many inscriptions in the ini- 
" tial text-letters, was made 
'* by himself, having as happy 



CENT. xfi. of Britain, 121 

in England equal for honour, wealth, and number, A.D.itpo. 
in the latter end of king Henry the Sixth, though at ' 



this day the lord Abergavenny be the only baron 
thereof. He gave for his arms a cross saltier, or the 
cross of St. Andrew, probably assuming it in the 
holy war. For though I confess this is not the 
proper cross of Jerusalem, ret was it highly esteemed 
of all those who adventured thither, as may appear, 
in that all knights-templars made such saltier cross, 
with then- thwarted legs upon their monuments. 

12. Giralde de Talbote succeeds in the second oiraide de 
place; when articles were drawn up between our whence the 
king Richard, in his passage to Palestine, and Tan- swr^ 
cred king of Sicily, for the mutual observation oi^^^- 
many conditions betwixt* them, he put in upon their 
oaths for his sureties, a grand jury of his principal 
subjects then present, viz. two archbishops, two 
bishops, and twenty other of his prime nobility ex- 
pressed in his letters patents ^ ; besides many others 
whose names were concealed. Of these twenty, the 
aforesaid Giralde de Talbote is the first ; whose male 

issue and name is extant at this day, flourishing in 
the right honourable femily of the earls of Shrews- 
bury. 

1 3. Next amongst the royal jurors (as I may term Guarin 
them) was Guarin Fitz-Gerald, from whom are de- raw, from 
scended the Fitz-Geralds in Ireland, (where their ^|^/^®,^ 
name is in some places provincial,) of whom the earl ^« *"^ 
of Kildare is chief. A memorial of their service in Windsor. 

** a hand in fair and fast writ- his Fun. Mon. 644, under the 

*• ing, as some of his surname title of " Registrum Cartarum 

" since have been defective " Abbatiae de Waltham."] 
" therein." This appears to u R. Hoveden, [Annales, 

me to have been the same book f. 385.]] 
as that quoted by Weever in 



1S2 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1190. Palestine is preserved in their arms, giving argent, a 

J LI cross saltier gules. Here it must be remembered, 

that the valiant sprightly gentleman Hickman, lord 
Windsor, is descended from the same male ancestors 
with the Fitz-Geraldsv, (as Robert Glover, a most 
exquisite herald doth demonstrate,) though accord- 
ing to the fashion of that age, altering his old, and 
assuming a new name from Windsor, the place df 
his office and command. This lord Windsor carrieth 
the badge of his service in his arms, being essentially 
the same with the earl of Kildare's, save that the 
colours are varied ; the field gules, and cross saltier 
argent, betwixt twelve crosses crossed, or: which 
coat seemingly surfeited, was conceived in that age, 
the more healthful for the same ; the more crossed 
the more blessed, being the devotion of those days. 
A qiiater. J 4, FoMT Other ffeutlemcn of quality remain men- 

mon more ° * "^ 

of adven- tioucd in that patent, William de Curcy, father to 

turcrs 

John, the valiant champion and conqueror of Ire- 
land ; Robert de Novo Burgo, Hugh le Bruin, and 
Amaury de Mountfort ; of all whom formerly in our 
alphabetical comment on abbey-roll. 
A.D. 1191. 15. At the siege of Acres or Ptolemais, (the grave 
de^FleSnes general of the Christian army,) amongst many wor- 
hiB poflte- ^jjj^g dying there within the compass of one year ; I 
find Ingelram de Fiennes to be slain w, from whom the 
lord viscount Say and Seal, and the lord Dacre of 
the south derive their descent^. But most visible 
are the remains of the holy war in the achievement 
of Theophilus Fiennes, alias Clinton, earl of Lincoln, 
giving in the lower parts of his shield (in a field 

V See Camd. Brit, in Berk- f. 390.] 
shire, [p. 209.] » [Camd. Brit, in Sussex, 

'^ R. Hoveden, [Annales, p. 225.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 123 

argent) six crosses crossed fitchee sable, denoting a. d.i 191. 
the stability and firmness of his ancestors in that — !LLI 
service. 

16. Also at the aforesaid siege of Acres, Radul- Raduiphus 
phus de Alta Bipa, archdeacon of Colchester ended iSpa. 
his life^. Now although because a clergyman, he 
could not then leave any lawful issue behind him, 

yet we may be confident that the ancient family De 
Alta Ripa or Dautry, still continuing in Sussex, were 
of his allianceyy. 

17. Before we leave the siege of Acres, let me a mistake 
refresh the reader with my innocent (and give me^."""' 
leave to say provable) mistake. I conceived the 
noble femily of the lord Dacres took their surname 

from some service there performed, confirmed in my 
conjecture: 1. Because the name is written with a 
local tmesis, D' Acres. 2. Joan daughter to Edward 
the First, king of England, is called D' Acres, because 
bom there. 3. They gave their arms, gules, three 
scallop-shells argent; which scallop-shells (I mean 
the nethermost of them, because most concave and 
capacious,) smooth within, and artificially plated 
without, was ofttimes cup and dish to the pilgrims 
in Palestine ; and thereupon their arms often charged 
therewith. Since suddenly all is vanished, when I 
found Dacor^ a rivulet in Cumberland, so ancient, 
that it is mentioned by Bede himself long before the 



y [Galf. Vines, f, 279. (ed. sauf. But Trivet quotes se- 
Grale.) Rather Richard, canon veral lines from the Itinerary 
of the Holy Trinity, London, as written by Richard the 
For he is most evidently the canon (p. 97.), which passage 
author of the Itinerary of king is found in Gale, II. 302.] 
Richard printed by Gale, and yy Camd. Brit. ibid, 
attributed by him and most < Camd. Brit, in Cumber- 
writers since to Galf, Vine- land, p. 639. 



1S4 The Church Huttm/ book hi. 

A.D. 1 191- holy war was once dreamed of, which gave the name 

-^ '- to Dacre's castle, as that (their prime seat) to that 

family. 
Craoent 18. Before we go further, be it here observed, that 
^y tbe when king Richard the First went into Palestine, he 
^^Ru ^^ up f^^ ^8 device in his ensign a crescent and a 
^^^ '• '" star, but on what account men variously conjecture, 
to the Holy Somo conccivo it done in afiront to the sultan Salar 

IjancL 

din, the Turk giving the half moon for his arms. 
But this seems unlikely, both because a crescent is 
not the posture of the Turkish moon, and because 
this was a preposterous method with a valiant man 
at his bare setting forth, who would rather first vdn 
before wear the arms of his enemies. Others make 
a modest, yea religious meaning thereof, interpreting 
himself and his soldiers by the crescent and star, 
expecting to be enlightened from above by the 
beams of success from the sun of divine providence. 
Indeed it would trouble a wise man, but that a wise 
man will not be troubled therewith, to give a 
reason of king Richard's fancy ; it being almost as 
easy for him to foretell ours, as for us infallibly to 
interpret his design herein. However, we may ob- 
serve many of the principal persons which attended 
the king in this war had their shields becrescented 
and bestarred, in relation to this the royal device. 
The arms 19. Thus Michacl Minshull, of Minshull in Cheshire, 
^ien^f^y serving king Richard in this war, had not only the 
ehuii!" crescent and star given him for his arms, but since 
also that £Mnily hath borne for their crest, two lions' 
paws holding a crescent. And I have seen a patent 
lately*, granted by the lord marshal, to a knight 

* Viz. July 4, 1642. 



C£NT. XI i. of Britain. 1S5 

denying himself from a yomiger branch of thatA.D.npi. 

family, assigning him for distinction, to change his '— 

crest into the sultan kneeling and holding a 
crescent*, 

20. And thus the noble family of Saint John As aiao of 

the noble 

(whereof the earl of Bolingbroke, &c.) give for their st. John^i 
patemal coat, argent, two stars, or, on a chief gules, vuie^s. 
These stars first give us a dim light to discover their 
service in the Holy Land, ^vLo since are beholding 
for perfecter information to one now scarce counted 
a rhythmer, formerly admitted for a poet, acquainting 
us with this and another noble family adventuring 
in the holy war, namely, the Sackvilles, still flou- 
rishing in the right honourable the earl of Dorset. 

Sing Slitl^atly fogtb gttl> entent 

Co sat cite of ^afe^^ ^^x 

®tt mom |)e 0ent aftut Shit ttobatt jbaltebile 

Sbix aOtiUiani SSlatetuUe 

jbit l^ttibatt anl> Shit Uoiart of 'Sutnl^am 

Skit Vetttam )9tanl»e0 anli ^ojbn l)e Ski* 3)oi)nd. 

Yet the arms or crest of the Sackvilles give us not 
the least intimation of the holy war. And indeed no 
rational man can expect an universal conformity in 
so much variety of fimcies, that all the arms of the 
adventurers thither should speak the same language, 
or make some sign of their service therein. 

21. I find sir Frederic Tilney knighted at Acres in a.d. 1192. 
the Holy Land in the third year of king Richard the ghipfui fa. 
First ^; he was a man magruB statures et potens cor-^^^^^ 
pore ; sixteen knights in a direct line of that name 

^ Sir Richard MinshuU of in Heame's copy, though pro- 
Burton in Bucks. bably in a MS. used by him. 

c Jafes, that is, Joppa in Pa- See his edition, p. 487. n.] 
lestine. ^ Hackluit in his first volume 

^ Robert of Gloucester. [Not of voyages. 



^ 



126 The Church History book hi. 

A.D.I 192. succeeded in that inheritance: whose heir general 
^ ' ' ' was married to the duke of Norfolk, whilst a male 
branch (if not, which I fear, very lately extinct) 
flourished since at Shilleigh in Suffolk. 
The matt 22. When I look upon the ancient arms of the 
a^J^JJ^ofiioWe family of the Villiers, wherein there is pilgrim 
the vuiiei* ^j^ pilgrim, I mean five scallops, or, on the cross of 
St. George ; I presently concluded one of that family 
attended king Richard in the Holy Land : but on 
better inquiry, I find that this family at their first 
coming into England, bare sable three cinque-foils 
argent; and that sir Nicholas de Villiers, knight, 
changed this coat in the reign ^ not of Richard, but 
Edward the First, whom he valiantly followed in his 
wars in the Holy Land and elsewhere. 
The arms 23. I will concludo with the noble family of 
Berkeieys. Berkeley, than which none of England now emi- 
nently existing was more redoubted in the holy war. 
All know their descent from Harding (son to the 
king of Denmark), whose arms are said to be, gules, 
three Danish axes, or, or as others suppose with 
more probability, I conceive only a plain chevron, 
though some three hundred years since they have 
filled their coat with ten crosses patte, or, in remem- 
brance of the achievements of their ancestors in that 
service. For I find that Harding of England landed 
at Joppa July the third, in the second year of king 
Baldwin, with a band of stout soldiers, where he 
relieved the Christians besieged therein^. 

' Burton in his description marks upon the antiquity of 

of Leicestershire, [p. 55. From this family in Clarendon, Re- 

whom the celebrated George bel. I. 16.] 
Villiers duke of Buckingham S Chronicon Jerusalem, ix. 

was descended. See Frank* 11. [In the Gesta Dei per 

land's An. 29. See some re- Francos.] 



CENT. XII. 



of Britain. 



127 



24. But I have been too tedious, intending only aA.D.1192. 

short essay, and to be (let me call it) an honest i LI 

decoy, by entering on this subject, to draw others chCi^hmen 
into the completing thereof, during the whole extent *^J]^!^**" 
of the holy war. The best is, for the present we^^»"«»** 
have had good leisure, these martial times affording 

but little ecclesiastical matter. For at this present 
much of the English church was in Palestine, where 
Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, ended his life 
before the siege of Acres ; and where Hubert Walter, 
bishop of Salisbury, was a most active commander ; 
besides many more of the eminent clergy engaged 
in that service. Yet many did wish that one clergy- 
man moie had been there, (to keep him from doing 
mischief at home,) namely, William Longcamp, bishop 
of Ely, who played rex in the king's absence: so 
intolerable a tyrant was he, by abusing the royal 
authority committed unto him. And it is a wonder, 
that he, being indeed a Norman bom, but holding so 
many and great offices in this land, should not be 
able to speak one word of good English, as the 
English were not willing to speak one good word of 
him^ 

25. Such as draw up a parallel betwixt this Wil- Longcamp 

^ ^ and WoU 

Uam Longcamp and Thomas Wolsey, (afterward sey pana. 

leled. 



^ Godwin [de Prsesul. Angl. 
p. 251. He was made chan- 
cellor and chief justice of all 
England (totius justiciariusreg- 
ni). Trivet, I. 98. When John 
usurped the crown in the ab- 
sence of Richard, Longcamp 
was deprived of his authority, 
and fled into Normandy, (ib. 
114.) His appointment to the 
chief authority in the kingdom 
during the king's absence gave 



great offence to the nobility, 
who disliked the obscurity of 
his birth. Gul. Neubrigens. 
iv. 5. The same writer, who 
is however by no means fa- 
vourable to prelates in general, 
gives him no favourable cha- 
racter ; see iv. 14, sq., but 
Newbury is also more favour- 
able to John the professed 
enemy of the bishop, than the 
rest of our chroniclers.] 



ni. 



Ml < ttm ^. 




^^qM^wBemammm^ m 1«k4 mtm Xmemt to Meei m many 

Foes, wl eke l»wws of their birth, 
t&e fOKL 4f at hmfiiw !■■■■, tiie oilier of a 

Bttaes of their power, 
bach bcsnr the pipe » |pgicr«L and Aeir kings' prin- 

ThirAj. hn^ of Aeir pride, Long- 

dailr attendants, Wol- 
eqnaliiiiig that nmnber 
Fomthlr, suddenness 
of their &IL and it if hard to saj which of the two 
fircd norehsted. or fied les pitied. 
]»*fc^ t>» 96l Yet to give W ofec y his doe, he hr exceeded 
d»opi^ the other. Longcamp is a ccos c d of coTetousness, 
prMDotni^ hs base kindred, to the damage ted detri- 
ment oi others : no snrii thii^ charged on Wolsej. 
Longcamp's a c tiiiti moTed in the narrow sphere of 
Ei^land's dominicMis; whilst W<rfsej might be said 
(in some sort) to hare held in his hand the scales of 
Chiistendam. Up emperw, down France; and so 
aHematehv as he was jdeased to cast in his grains. 
Wolsej sat at the stem m<»e than twenty years, 
whilst Lcmgcamp's impolitic pride outed him of his 
place in less than a quarter of the time. Lastly, 
nothing remains of Longcamp, but the memory of 
his pride and pcnnp : whilst Christ Chnrch in Oxford, 
and other stately edifices, are the lasting monuments 
of Wolsey's magnificence, to all posterity. 
Vtfi n word 87* But seeing it is just to settle men's memo- 
l1!2!!^iv ries on their true bottom, be it known, that one 
putteth in a good word in due season, in the excuse 
of bishop Longcamp, haply not altogether so bad as 
tho pens of monks would persuade us^ It enraged 

i Godwin [De Prsesul p. 251.] 



C£1«T. XII. 



of Britain. 



1S9 



them against him, becaiuie Hugh Nonant, bishpp ofA.D. 1193. 

GoTentry and Lichfield, drove out monks out of i '— 

Goventrj, and brought in secular priests in the 
room ; which alteration he being not able of himself 
to effect, used the assistance of Longcamp bishop of 
. Ely ; ordering the same in a synod called at London. 
And seeing monks have no medium betwixt not 
loving and bitter hating, no wonder if for this cause 
they paid him their invectives. But we have done 
with him, and are glad of so fair a riddance of him, 
on this account, that most of his misdemeanors were 
by him committed, not qiui bishop, but qiia viceroy, 
and so more properly belonging to the civil his- 
torian^. 

28. King Richard in his return from Palestine was 
taken prisoner by Leopold duke of Austria, and 
detained by him in durance, with hard and unprince- 
like usage ^ ; whilst the English clergy endeavoured 
the utmost for his enlargement. And at last when 
a fine certain was set upon him to be paid for his 
ransom, they with much ado in two years time dis- 
bursed the same. 



^ [See Neub. iv. 43. v. 28.] 
1 [He was transferred by the 
duke to the custody of the 
emperor. '^ Imperator allegans 
'* regem non debere teneri a 
" duce, nee esse indecens si ab 
** imper. celsitudine decus re- 
" giumteneretur." Neubrigens. 
iv. 33. According to the letter 
which Richard wrote to Elea. 
nor^ he was not harshly treat- 
ed : '* honeste autem circa ip- 
sum imperatorem moram fa- 
cimus, donee ipsius et nostra 
" negotia perficiantur et donee 
'' ei 70,000 marcarum argenti 

FULLER, 70L. II. 



€€ 



t( 



" solverimus." He then pro- 
ceeds ; " Universum autem au- 
" rum et argentum ecclesiarum 
" diligenti observatione et 
*' script! testimonio ab ipsarum 
" ecclesiarum preelatis accipia- 
'* tis ; eisque per sacramentum 
*' vestrum et aliorum baronum 
** nostrorum quos volueritis 
" affirmetis quod eis plenarie 
" restituentur."(Rymer*sFcBd. 
I. 60. Hoveden, f. 413.) This 
letter was written however 
while he was in the emperor*s 
custody.] 



130 



The Chtnrch Hutory 



BOOK III. 



AD. 1193. 29* The sum was an hundred and fifty thousand 
JL__. marks", to be paid, part to the duke of Austria, 
part to Henry the Sixth, sumamed the Sharp, (sure 
such our Richard found him,) emperor of Grermany. 
Some will wonder that the weight of such a sum 
should then sway the back of the whole kingdom, 
(putting many churches to the sale of their silver 
chalices °,) having seen in our age one city in a few 



"» [Trivet says 200,000 
marks (i. T27.) ; Hoveden 
150^000 (Annales, f.414.), but 
according to Avesbury, the 
sum was 1 00^000 marks of 
silver, of which a third part 
was to be paid to the duke of 
Austria (iv. 27.)* According 
to an anonymous chronicler 
cited in the margin of this 
last author^ it was 150,000 
marks of silver, Cologne weight, 
20,000 marks of this money 
were to have been given to 
the duke of Austria, but were 
never paid, he dying just at 
the time when the money was 
about to be sent to him, and 
his country being visited with 
great troubles, which the Eng- 
lish historians of this period 
considered as the judgment of 
God upon him for his cruelty 
to Richard. Neubrigens, v. 8. 
Hoveden, f. 425. 

No wonder that when the 
monks contemplated the fate 
of this man, who had already 
been anathematized by the see 
of Rome for his avarice, they 
should have looked upon it as 
something more than human. 
His death was produced by a 
fall from his horse, which frac- 
tured his foot, and produced 
mortification. The physicians 



declared that amputation was 
necessary, yet no one had the 
hardihood to venture upon 
such an operation, but one of 
the duke's bed-chamber men. 
While the duke held the edge 
of an adze across his foot, his 
servant struck it three times 
with a mallet, and thus ampu- 
tated the foot, but without the 
desired effect. The duke find- 
ing he was dying sent for the 
clergy, and desired remission 
from the censures of the 
church, but they refused it, 
until he made ^11 reparation 
for the injuries which he had 
done to the king of England. 
The duke accordingly released 
the hostages which Richard 
had left with him as security 
for the money due to him. 
But the duke's son and suc- 
cessor refused to comply with 
the dying requests of his fa- 
ther, until he was compelled 
to do so by his clergy, who re- 
fused to perform the funeral 
rites over his father*s body 
until he had complied.] 

^ [See " The History of the 
'' Holy War," p. 130. Our 
author there observes, in re- 
ference to the king*8 imprison, 
ment and ransom ; '' Not long 
" after the duke sold liim to 



CENT. X1T. 



of Britain, 



ISl 



days advance a larger proportion; but let such a.d. 1193. 

• , 4 Rich. I. 

consider : - 

i. The money was never to return, not made over 
by bills of exchange, but sent over in specie, which 
which made it arise the more heavily. For such 
sums may be said in some sort to be but lent, not 
lost, (as to the commonwealth,) which are not ex- 
ported, but spent therein in the circulation of trading. 



<< 

r< 
«< 
«< 
cc 
«i 
<< 

€« 

« 
• < 

(« 

<€ 
<( 
€€ 
«« 

€e 

€t 

c« 

€t 
t€ 
€€ 

<r 

€€ 
ft 
<( 
<€ 
<* 
<t 
t€ 



Henry the emperor, for his 
harsh nature sumamed As' 
per ; and it might have been 
ScBvus, being but one degree 
from a tyrant. He kept king 
Richard in bonds, charging 
him with a thousand faults 
committed by him in Sicily, 
Cyprus, and Palestine. The 
proofs were as slender as the 
crimes gross; and Richard 
having an eloquent tongue, 
innocent heart, and bold 
spirit, acquitted himself in 
the judgment of all hearers. 
At last he was ransomed for 
1 40,000 marks, Cologne 
weight*. A sum so vast in 
that age, before the Indies 
had overflowed all Europe 
with their gold and silver, 
that to raise it in England 
they were forced to sell their 
church-plate, to their very 
chalices. Whereupon out of 
most deep divinity it was 
concluded t, that they should 
not celebrate the Sacrament 
in glass, for the brittleness of 
it ; nor in wood, for the 
sponginess of it, which would 
suck up the blood; nor in 
alchymy, because it was sub- 



'' ject to rusting ; nor in cop- 
" per, because that would pro- 
" voke vomiting ; but in cha- 
** lices of latten, which belike 
" was a metal without ex. 
" ception. And such were used 
" in England for some hun- 
*' dred years after J: until at 
'* last John Stafford, archbishop 
** of Canterbury, when the land 
*' was more replenished with 
*' silver, inknotteth that priest 
" in the greater excommuni- 
" cation that should consecrate 
*' poculum stanneum." ' Yet 
Trivet says that in 1 194, after 
the king had returned into 
England, finding some of the 
churches thus deprived of their 
chalices, he ordered others to 
be made and given to them in 
their place. ("Advertensetiam 
'* nonnullas ecclesiarum cam- 
" pestrium argenteis car ere ca- 
" licibus, cum didicisset eos 
" suee redemptionis occasione 
** sublatos, sibi tanquam reo 
imputans ad culpam, divina 
minus digne in hac parte ce- 
lebrari, jussit fieri per loca 
'' di versa calices quamplurimos 
" eosque ecclesiis indigentibus 
" distribui sine mora.") p. 1 29.] 



t( 



t€ 



« 



* Mat. Paris, p. 1 75. 
i. f. 6. ed. Paris, 1505. 



•f* Lyndewode^s Provincials, De Sum. Trin. 
X Fox, I. 322. 

k2 



18S 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A. D. 1 194. ii. A third of silver went then more to make a 

J !_ mark than nowadays, witness their groats, worth our 

sixpence in the intrinsic value. 

iii. Before trading to the East and West Indies, 
some hundred and fifty years since, very little the 
silver of England, in comparison to the banks of 
modem merchants^. 

However, Hubert archbishop of Canterbury, with 
much diligence perfected the work, and on his ransom 
paid, king Richard returned into England p. 
King Ri- 30. Now lest his majesty should suffer any dimi- 
for af. nution by his long late imprisonment, king Richard 
was crowned again by Hubert archbishop of Canter- 
bury, at Winchester, with great solemnity ; and one 
may say that his durance was well bestowed on him, 
seeing after the same he was improved in all his 
relations. 



« [The process of tliis col- 
lection is well described by 
Newbury, employing the em- 
phatic words of the prophet 
Joel: thai which the palmer- 
worm hath left halh the loctisl 
eaten; and that which the lo~ 
cust hath left hath the canker- 
worm eaten; and that which 
the carikerworm hath left hath 
the caterpillar eaten. He ob- 
serves, that after three several 
exactions, the collective sums 
were still found insufficient; 
and this, as it was thought, 
was occasioned by the fraud of 
the coUectors, who made this 
raising of the king's ransom a 
cloak for all kinds of disho- 
nesty and extortion, iv. 38. 

Richard was liberated in Ja- 
nuary, 1 1 95, and reached Sand- 
wich in the March following. 
Neub. iv. 41.] 



P [At the time when this 
collection was first set on foot 
for the king, Hubert was only 
bishop of Salisbury (Neubrig. 
iv. 33.), but shortly after, and 
while he was still a prisoner, 
Richard wrote from Germany 
to the bishops and others to 
fill up the vacancy of the me- 
tropolitan see, and recom. 
mended to them Hubert, who 
was accordingly elected. Bald- 
win his predecessor had died in 
the east during the crusades. 
Neub. iv. 36. v. i. 

He exacted from the Cister. 
cians the profits of all their 
wool for two years, twenty 
shillings on every knight's fee, 
a fourth part of the revenues 
of the clergy and laity, and all 
the treasures of the church. 
Neub. V. I. Hoved. f. 416.] 



CENT. XII. of Britain, 1S8 

Son. For though he could not revive his deadA.D. 1194. 
fisitber, yet on all occasions he expressed sorrow for ^ 
his undutiftdiless. 

Husband. Hereafter prizing the company of Be- 
rengaria his queen, daughter to Sanctius king of Na- 
varre, whom formerly he slighted and neglected pp. 

Brother. Freely and fiiUy pardoning the practices 
of his brother John aspiring to the crown in his 
absence ; and being better to his base brother Gef- 
frey, archbishop of York, than his tumultuous nature 
did deserve*!. 

Man. Being more strict in ordering his own con- 
versation. 

King. In endeavouring the amendment of many 
things in the land, in whose days a council was kept 
at York for reformation, but little effected. 

31. Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, had a.d. 1 198. 
almost finished a fair convent for monks at Lambeth, convent, 
begun by Baldwin his predecessor *". But instantly ^^i^^J^ 
the monks of Canterbury are all up in anger against 
him ; they feared that in process of time Lambeth 
would prove Canterbury, (viz. the principal place of 
the archbishop's residence,) to the great impairing of 
their privileges ; the vicinity of Lambeth to the 

PP [Hoveden, f. 428. b.] was of no further service, by 
4 [John was condemned by the mediation of his mother 
the solemn judgment of his was taken by his brother into 
peers, and deprived of his for- favour : " a quo satis fraterne 
mer privileges. Nftub. iv. 42. " susceptus ei de csetero contra 
After which he still continued " regem Francorum fideliter et 
in hostility against his brother, ** fortiter militavit, priores ex- 
and served against him under *' cessus novis ofiiciis expians 
Philip king of France, till the ** et fraternam in se charitatem 
truce between that prince and ** ad plenum reformans." Neub. 
the king of England ; when v. 5. Hoved. f. 248.] 
John finding no longer any >■ [Xrivet. I. 91, 134. Hoved. 
countenance from the king of f. 443. This church was found- 
France, as an instrument which ed in honour of St. Thomas.] 

k3 



134 The Church History book lu. 

A. D.I 199. court increased their jealousy : and now they ply the 

. ^pope with petitions, and with what makes petitions 

to take effect in the court of Rome ; never content 
till they had obtained (contrary to the king's and 
archbishop's desire) that the convent at Lambeth 
was utterly demolished; many bemoaning the un- 
timely end thereof before it was ended, murdered, as 
one may say, by malicious emulation. 
KingRi- 32. The death of king Richard is variously re- 
death, ported, but this relation generally received, that he 
lost his life on this sad occasion. A viscount in 
France", subject to king Richard, having found a vast 
treasure, (hid probably by some prince, the king's 
predecessor,) sent part thereof to king Richard, re- 
serving the rest to himself; who, could he have con- 
cealed all, had made no discovery, and had he sent 
all, had got no displeasure; whilst hoping by this 
middle way to pleasure the king, and profit himself, 
he did neither. King Richard disdains to take part 
for a gift, where all was due ; and blame him not, if 
having lately bled so much money, he desired to fill 
his empty veins again. The viscount fled into Poictou, 
whither the king following, straitly besieged him. 
By a poi- 33. The castlo beinff reduced to distress, a soldier 
arrow. shoots a poisoned arrow, contrary to the law of arms, 
being a sharp arrow from a strong bow is poison 
enough of itself, without any other addition. But 
those laws of arms are only mutually observed in 
orderly armies, (if such to be found,) and such laws 
outlawed by extremity ; when the half-femished 
soldier, rather for spite than hunger, will champ a 

^ [Widomarus, vicecomes de niclers he was wounded in the 

Limoges. Hoveden, f. 449. shoulder, not the eye. See also 

Annales Burton, 255. Accord- Hemingford, ch. 93.] 
ing to these and other chro- 



CENT. XII. of Britain. 185 

bullet. The arrow hits king Richard in the eye, who a.d. 1199. 

died some days after on the anguish thereof, having '- 

first forgiven the soldier that wounded him. 

34. By will he made a tripartite division of his Jhe thrw- 
body, and our author takes upon him to render a of his 
reason thereof*. His heart he bequeathed to Roan,"**^^ 
because he had ever found that city hearty and 
cordial unto him: his body to be buried at Font- 
Evreux, at his fether's feet, in token of his sorrow 

and submission, that he desired to be as it were his 
father^s footstool : his bowels to be buried in the parish 
church in the province of Poictou, where he died, 
not for any bowels of affection he bare unto them, 
but because he would leave his filth and excrements 
to so base and treacherous a place. Others more 
charitably conceive them to be buried there, because 
conveniently not to be carried thence, whose cor- 
ruption required speedy interment. Another monk 
telleth us, that his heart was grossitvdine prcestans^^ 
" gross for the greatness thereof;" which is contrary 
to the received opinion, that that part is the least in 
a valiant man, and the heart of a lion (this Richard 
we know was called Coeur de lion, or lion-hearted) 
less than the heart of an hare. 

35. I find two epitaphs made upon him, the first hu double 

epitaph and 

(better for the conceit than the poetry thereof) thus suooessor. 
concludeth : 

Sic loca per trina se sparsit tanta ruina. 

Nee fuit hoc fun us cui sufBceret locus unus^. 

Three places thus are sharers of his fall, 
Too little, one, for such a funeral. 

t Mat. Paris, p- 195. [Hove- p. 1628. QTwysden.] 
den and Hemingf., as above.] ^ Mille's Catalogue of Ho- 

^ Gervasius Dorobernensis, nour, p. 120. 

K 4 



186 



The Church History 



BOOIt III. 



^•^'?'"*® ^^^^ "*y P^ ^'*'* * ^°^ P*®*® **^ P°®**7 in 

lo Ridi. I. . , . 

that age; 

Hie Ricarde jaoes, sed mors si cederet armis 
Victa timore tui oederet ipsa tuis*. 

Richard thou liest here, but were death afraid 
Of any arms, thy arms had death dismayed. 

Dying issueless, the crown after his death should 
have descended to Arthur, duke of Bretagne, as son 
to Geflfrey, fourth son to Henry the Second, in whose 
minority John, fifth son to the said king, seized on 
the crown, keeping his nephew Arthur in prison till 
he died therein. Thus climbing the throne against 
conscience, no wonder if he sat thereon without 
comfort, as in the following century, God willing, 
shall appear y. 



X Camden's Brit, in Oxford- 
shire, [p. 269.] 

y [According to Trivet, Ri- 
chard appointed John to be 
his heir, Annal. i. 135. (" Hae- 
res legitimus^*' R. de Diceto, 
p. 705.) And the first oc- 
casion of animosity between 
the uncle and nephew was from 
Arthur's aspiring to the throne 
and seizing upon the country 
of Anjou, for which he did 
fealty to Philip king of France 
at the city of Le Mans, in 
1199. ib. 139. In 1201 a dis- 
sension falling between the 
kings of France and England, 
Philip, in order to find em- 
ployment for his opponent, put 
Bretagne into the hands of 
Arthur, exhorting him at the 
same time to seize upon Poic- 
tou and Anjou, which it ap- 
pears he had lost; for the pro- 
motion of which object Philip 



gave him two hundred men, 
and a large sum of money. 
John then leavhfig his foreign 
enemies, turned his arms 
against Arthur and his ad- 
herents, defeated them, and 
sent Arthur prisoner to Rouen, 
(ib. 143.) where he died in 
1203. ** De cujus morte regem 
" Johannem quidam ejus eemuli 
*' infamarunt," such are the 
remarkable words of Trivet. 
144. Compare also Annales 
Burton, p. 256. 

According to Matthew Paris, 
in the vear 1200, when Ar- 
thur was thirteen years of age, 
Philip and John were recon- 
ciled. John is permitted to 
hold without disturbance his 
Norman possessions, for which 
he does homage to Philip, 
whilst Arthur does homage to 
John for his lands in Bretagne 
and elsewhere, but fearing to 



CENT. XII. 



of Britain. 



137 



be betrayed by John remains in 
the custody of Philip (Hist. 
Angl. p. 200.) 

1 202. The friendship is but 
ill-patched between the two 
kings. At a conference be- 
tween them at Guletnne, 
** Rex Francorum contra re- 
'* gem Anglorum mortali ar- 
<* matus odio/' indignantly or- 
dered (praecepit) king John 
to restore to Arthur earl of 
Bretagne all the lands which 
he held (transmarinis partibus), 
sc. Normandy, Touraine^ An- 
jou, Poictou^ and others, and 
made many other demands 
with which John refused to 
comply. The next day Philip 
attacks Butavant and other 
castles belonging to John, and 
returning to Paris, ** Arthurum 
'' sub tutoribus deputavit ;" de- 
livers him two hundred French 
soldiers^ to make an attack upon 
Poictou, and subjugate that and 
the other countries to his own 
power. The nobility of Poic- 
tou join Arthur^ and beleaguer 
queen Eleanor at the castle of 
Mirabel. Eleanor sends mes- 
sengers to John earnestly re- 
questing assistance. The king 



goes to her relief; a battle A. D. 1 199. 
takes place ; Arthur and the i John. 
French are defeated and taken ; 
Arthur is put under strict 
guard at Falaise. At Falaise 
the king has an interview with 
his nephew, and endeavours by 
kind words and promises to 
induce him to withdraw from 
the king of France and remain 
in his allegiance. Arthur fool- 
ishly (stulto usus consilio) an- 
swered the king with indigna- 
tion and threats ; demands of 
John that he should restore him 
the kingdom with all the lands 
which king Richard held at the 
day of his death. And inasmuch 
as all these things were his 
just inheritance, he swore that 
unless he speedily restored 
them the king should never en. 
joy a durable peace. At these 
words John was greatly disturb- 
ed : and gave orders that Arthur 
should be sent to Rouen, 
where he was detained in closer 
custody. " Sed non multo 
" post idem Arthurus subito 
" evanuit modo fere omnibus 
*^ ignorato : utinam non ut 
" fama refert invida." 207-8.] 



THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 



TO 



MR. JOHN ROBINSON 



OF 



MILK STREET IN LONDON. MERCHANT.a 

Divines generaJly excuse the dumb man^ cured by Christy 
Jbr publishing the same^ tJumgh contrary to his command, 
Theophylact goes Jkirther in his comment on the text, 
biba<rK6fjL€0a ivT€vO€V^ Krjpi(r(r€iv Koi <prifJLt(€iv tovs iyaOo- 
TToirja^ivras k&v iK€ivot jut^ OiktacriVj '* Hence we are taught ^ 
saith hCf " to proclaim and spread the Jame qfotir bene- 



* [Arms vert, on a chevron 
or three trefoils of the first, 
between three bucks passant of 
the second. This Mr. Robin- 
son^ who was an alderman^ was 
a great friend to the loyal 
cl^rgj) ^^^ befriended the ce- 
lebrated Anthony Farindon, by 
procuring him the living of 
St. Mary Magdalen, Milk- 
street» Cheapside. He was 
afterwards knighted, accord- 
ing to Wood, (Athenae,!!. 226, 
who calls him kinsman to 
Dr. Laud.) There was a John 
Robinson alderman and lord 
mayor, who was lieutenant oi 
the Tower in 1660, and made 
a baronet the same year. He 



was the son of Dr. William 
Robinson, prebendary of West- 
minster, half-brother to arch- 
bishop Laud (Heylyn's Life of 
Laud, p. 46.), and is the same 
person to whom Heylyn dedi- 
cated his Life of Laud. I have 
little doubt but that these two 
sir John's were one and the 
same person, though my friend 
Mr. Barham informs me that 
the coat of the latter was en- 
tirely different from the former, 
viz. Vert, a buck at gaze, or; — ' 
the coat still borne by my 
friend Mr. Robinson of Hart- 
street, Bloomsbury.] 
^ Mark vii, 36. 




CENT. XIII. of Britain. 139 

"JactoTi, though they themselves be unwilling^ On 
which account I tafely may, and Justly must, publicly 
acknowledge your bounty to me. 

IS Chriatmas king John kept at Guild- a. d. 1199. 

ford, where he bestowed many new^! ^L 

holyday-liverieB on his guard, and Hu-i„dJ]|^ 
hert the archbishop gave the like to^^*^^ 
his eervants at Canterbury ; who of- 
fended the king not a little, that the mitre should 
ape the crown, and the chaplain vie gallantry with 
his patron. To make some amends, when the king 
and queen the Easter following were crowned at 
Canterbury, Hubert made them magnificent, yea, 
superfluous cheer''. Yet his offence herein carried 
an excuse in it ; and superfluity at that time seemed 
but needful to do penance for his former profuse- 
ness ; and to shew that his loyalty in entertaining of 
the king should surpass his late vanity, in ostentation 
of his wealth. However, when king John had di- 
gested the archbishop's dainty cheer, the memory of 
his servants' coats still stuck in his stomach. Surely 
if clergymen had left all emulation with the laity in 
outward pomp, and applied themselves only to piety 
and painAilness in their calling, they had found as 
many to honour, as now they made to envy them. 

2. But now we enter on one of the saddest tra-A.D. 1105. 
gedies that ever was acted in England, occasioned by betwixt the 
the monks of Canterbury, after the decease of Hu- '^^,^-, 
bertS about the election of a new archbishop. O thatT"*^"*^ 
their monkish controversies had been confined to ad^ngmnu 
cloister, or else so enjoined a single life, that their 



•i Mat. Parrs, Hist. Ang. in = [He died this year. Chron. 
mno 1 201 . Lanercost. 1 ] 



140 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1305. local discords might never have begotten any national 

^ dissensions. Behold (saith the apostle) how great a 

matter a little fire kindleth\ especially after a long 
drought, when every thing it meets is tinder for it 
All things at home (besides foreign concurrences) 
conspired to inflame the difference : king John, rather 
stubborn than valiant, was unwilling to lose, yet 
unable to keep his right; the nobility potent and 
fitctious ; the clergy looking at London, but rowing 
to Rome : carrying Italian hearts in English bodies : 
the commons pressed with present grievances, gene- 
rally desirous of change; conceiving any alteration 
must be for their advantage, barely because an 
alteration. All improved the discord so long, till 
Normandy was lost ; England embroiled ; the crown 
thereof envassalled ; the king's person destroyed ; his 
posterity endangered ; foreigners fetched in to insult, 
and native subjects made slaves to their insolencies. 
Two arch- 3. The youngcr of the monks of Canterbury, in 
chown^by the night time, without the king's knowledge or 
of Canter! couscut, chosc Reginald their sub-prior to be arch- 
bury, and bishop®. The seniors of their convent solemnly, at 

the pope ^ ^^ 

propound, a Canonical hour, with the approbation, yea commen- 
dation of the king, chose John de Gray bishop of 
Norwich for the place ; and both sides post to Rome 
for the pope's confirmation. He finding them violent 
in their ways, to prevent further faction, advised 

A.D. 1207. them to pitch on a third man; Stephen Langton, 
bom in England, but bred in France, lately chan- 

d James iii. 5. him the 17th of June. Upon 

« [Trivet, i. 149. According which John^ who favoured the 

to Trivet the pope appoint- bishop of Norwich, expelled 

ed Langton to the see, '* pos- the monks from their mon- 

" tulantibus monachis ejusdem astery, and forbade Langton to 

*' ecclesise/' and consecrated enter England, 151.] 



CENT. XIII, of Britain. 141 

cellor of the university of Paris, and sithence made a. d. 1207. 
cardinal of St. Chrysogone. Which expedient or "* 



middle way, though carrying a plausible pretence of 
peace, would by the consequence thereof improve 
the pope's power, by invading the imdoubted privi- 
leges of king John. The monks soberly excused 
themselves, that they durst not proceed to an election 
without the king's consent, but affiighted at last 
with the high threats of his holiness menacing them 
with excommunication, Stephen Langton was chosen 
accordingly. One that wanted not ability for the 
place, but rather had too much, as king John con- 
ceived, having his high spirit in suspicion, that he 
would be hardly managed. 

4. Then two letters were dispatched from the pope The pope 

sends two 

to the king^. The first had nothing of business, but letters of 
compliment, and four gold rings with several stones ; S^^^^to 
desiring him rather to mind the mystery, than value ^^ ^^^' 
the worth of the present ; wherein the round form 
signified eternity, their square number constancy, 
the green smaragd faith, the clear sapphire hope, the 
red granite charity, the bright topaz good works. 
How precious these stones were in themselves is 
imcertain ; most sure it is they proved dear to king 
John, who might beshrew his own fingers for ever 
wearing those rings, and, a« my author saith soon 
after, gemmce commviatcB in gemittis^. For in the 
second letter the pope recommended Stephen Lang- 
ton to the king's acceptance, closely couching threats 
in case he refused him. 

5. Banff John returned an answer full of stomach King 

® John's 

and animosity, that this was an intolerable encroach- return, 

e [See the Foedera, I. 93.] ^ Mat. Paris in anno 1207. p. 223. 



14ft The Church HiMiary book hi. 

A. D, 1 207. meat on his crown and dignity, which he neither 

8 John* 



could nor would digest, to have a stranger, unknown 

roisioir bis 

j^uu^ounto him, bred in foreign parts, fiimiliar with the 
uVIl French king his sworn enemj, obtruded upon him 
for an archbishop. He minded the pope that he 
had plenty of prelates in the kingdom of England 
sufficiently provided in all kind of knowledge, and 
that he need not to go abroad to seek for judgment 
and justice, intimating an intended defection from 
Rome in case he was wronged. Other passages 
were in his letter which deserved memory, had they 
been as vigorously acted as valiantly spoken. Whereas 
now (because he foully failed at last) judicious ears 
hearken to his words no otherwise, than to the 
empty brags of impotent anger, and the vain evapo- 
rations of his discontentment. However, he began 
high, not only banishing the monks of Canterbury 
for their contempt out of his kingdom, but also 
forbidding Stephen Langton from once entering into 
England. 
A. D. 1208. 6. Hereupon pope Innocent the Third employed 
shops by' three bishops, William of London, Eustace of Ely, 
J^^^°^^ and Mauger of Worcester, to give the king a serious 
pope inter- admonition, and upon his denial or delaying to 
whole king- receive Stephen Langton for archbishop, to proceed 
to interdict the kingdom of all ecclesiastical service, 
saving baptism of children, confession and the eu- 
charist to the djdng in case of necessity : which by 
them was performed accordingly 8f. No sooner had 
they interdicted the kingdom, but with Joceline 
bishop of Bath, and Giles of Hereford, they as 
speedily as secretly got them out of the land, like 
adventurous empirics, imwilling to wait the working 

8f [Ann. de Margan. et Ann. Waverl. in an. 1208.] 



CENT. XIII. of Britain, 143 

of their desperate physic; except any will compare a. d.hos. 

them to fearful hoys, which at the first trial set fire 

to their squihs with their fia^es backwards, and make 
fiaust away from them. But the worst was, they 
must leave their lands and considerable moveables in 
the kingdom behind them. 

1. See now on a sudden the sad face of the Eng- England*! 
lish church, A face without a tongue ; no singing und»hi. 
of service, no saying of mass, no reading of prayers ; *®^*^®°- 
as for preaching of sermons, the laziness and igno- 
rance of those times had long before interdicted 
them. None need pity the living, (hearing the im- 
patient complaints of lovers, for whose marriage no 
license could be procured,) when he looks on the 
dead, who were buried in ditches, like dogs, without 
any prayers said upon them^. True, a well informed 
Christian knows ftdl well that a corpse, though cast 
in a bog, shall not stick there at the day of judg- 
ment ; thrown into a wood, shall then find out the 
way ; buried by the highway's side, is in the ready 
road to the resurrection. In a word, that where- 
soever a body be put or placed, it will equally take 
the alarum at the last trumpet. Yet seeing these 
people believed that a grave in consecrated ground 
was a good step to heaven, and were taught that 
prayers after their death were essential to their sal- 
vation, it must needs put strange fears into the 
heads and hearts, both of such which deceased, and 
their friends which survived them. And although 
afterwards at the entreaty of Stephen Langton the 

^ '* Corpora quoque defiinc- " tionibus et sacerdotum min- 

'• torum de civitatibus et villis " isterio sepeliebantur." Mat. 

" efferebantur, et more canum Paris, p. 226. 
" in biviis et fossatis sine ora- 



144 



Tlie Church History 



BOOK iir. 



A.D. 1 208. pope indulged to conventual churches to have service 

!ll« once a w^eek, yet parish churches, where the people's 

need was as much, and number far more, of fik>uls, as 
dear in God's sight, were debarred of that benefit^ 
^o grand g. Somo pricsts woro well pleased that the inter- 
wrwight by dictiou for a time should continue, as which would 

thif inter- 1 1 • 1 1 • 

diction, render then* persons and places m more reputation, 
and procure a higher valuation of holy mysteries. 
Yea, this fasting would be wholesome to some souls, 
who afterwards would feed on divine service with 
greater appetite. Hereby two grand effects were 
generally produced in the kingdom. One, a terrible 
impression made in men's minds of the pope's power, 
which they had often heard o^ and now saw and 
felt, whose long arm could reach from Bbme all over 
England, and lock the doors of all churches there ; 
an emblem, that in like mann^ he had, or might 
have bolted the gates of heaven against them. The 
second, an alienation of the people's hearts from king 
John, all behig ready to complain ; O cruel tyrant 
over the souls of his subjects, whose wUftdness ile- 
priveth them of the means of their salvation ! 

KingJohn'8 Q. Howcver, if things be well weighed, king 

innocence t i •!! 1 • • v» 

and the Johu Will appear merely passive m this matter, 

jiXjein" suffering unjustly, because he would not willingly 

^^P"*- part with his undoubted right. Besides, suppose 

him guilty, what equity was it, that so many thou- 



i [Parker;] Antiq. Brit. p. 
237. [But the Chronicon de 
Lanercost represents it some- 
what differently, that divine ser- 
vice was performed only once a 
week in the abbey-churches, 
all laymen being religiously 
excluded. " Quo anno [sc. 
'* 1 209.] ob mitigatiouem data 



" est licentia a domino papa 
'* in abbatiis per Angliam se- 
'' mel in hebdomada divina ce- 
*' lebrare, voce submissa, januis 
" clausis, exclusis seculari- 
'' bus." p. 5. Shortly after 
the pope also permitted the 
eucharist to be administered to 
persons in extremity. lb. 6.] 



Sect.xiik of Britain. 145 

sands in England, who in this particular case might a. d. 1208. 
better answer to the name of Innocent than hi8_£-l^ 
holiness himself, should be involved in his pimish- 
ment ? God indeed sometimes most justly punisheth 
subjects for the defaults of their sovereigns, as in the 
case of the plague, destroying the people for David's 
numbering of them. But it appears in the text^ 
that formerly they had been offenders and guilty 
before God, as all men at all times are. But seeing 
the English at this present had not injured his holi- 
ness by any personal offence against him, the pope 
by interdicting the whole realm, discovered as much 
emptiness of charity as plenitude of power. But some 
will say, his bounty is to be praised that he permitted 
the people some sacraments, who might have denied 
them all, in rigour, and with as much right ; yea, it 
is well he interdicted not Ireland also, as a country 
under king John's dominion, deserving to smart for 
the perverseness of their prince placed over it. 

10. But after the continuance of this interdiction, a. d. mo. 

- - - King John 

a year and upwards, the horror thereof began to by name 
abate. Use made ease, and the weight was the^|™S^^" 
lighter, borne by many shoulders. Yea, the pope 
perceived that king John would never be weary with 
his single share in a general burden, and therefore 
proceeded nominatim to excommunicate him I For 
now his holiness had his hand in, having about this 
time excommunicated Otho the German emperor; 
and if the imperial cedar had so lately been blasted 

k Compare the 2 Sam. xxiv. p. 5, and a remarkable dia- 

1. with the I Chron. xxi. i. logue between the king and 

J [Trivet. I. 1 54. See an Pandulphus, in the Ann. of 

account of this excommuni. Waverley and Burton, a. 

cation in Chron. de Lanercost, 1 2 1 1 .] 

FULLER, VOL. II. L 



146 The Ckmwdk MKaimy book hi. 

A.p.iito.wilh his thundetbcdtSs no wonder if the TCngliali oak 

.i^! f^lt the sune fire. He mbo asmled sU Kngliftli gnb- 

jects firom their lU^rimee to king Jc^m, and gave 
not onlT liceifese bat eDeoungement to any foreigners 
to invade the land, so that it shoold not onlj be no 
sin in th^oo. bnt an eiqpwting of all th^ other sins 
to conquer England. Thus the ipcffe gaye them a 
title; and let their own swoids by knigfat-^ervice get 
thMDi a tenuie**. 
Y«t ^ 11. FiTe ^neais JSd king John He under this sen- 

fM4«w«M»ti»(ice of exrommnnieation. in which time we find 
y^ ^ him mcMt^ fortunate in hi$ nardal afiirs than either 
'i***^ be&>w or after* For he made a sacceasful Toyage 
into In4and^ as gfeedy a giaTe for KngBrfi corps as 
a K4tottik^ Va^ for their coin : and was Tery tri- 
AiVinuum)>ham in a Wel$h expedition, and stood on 
koiiouiahle tenagi in aU forei^ leiations. For as he 
k^^ In^lMid under hfe foel;. and Wales under his 
^bow^ $ii> he ^^htaked hauds^ in &t fiienddiip with 
Sc^^laud. and kept FVance at aims end witiioat 
^TU^ hiihcittL^ any c\>Kideiahle adrantage against 
KiiUv TW w\w^ w;fe$w wit daring to rqiose trust in 
hi$ ^mt^ecf^ he w;a$^ foire«l lo euiiHtain fordgn^rs, 
which 0m^ hb c\wi$tant anxieCT: as those n»ther 
$<aiiH) $iif^ uikW ^^ :$a£^ wW nw^t more to a staff than 
tW^v k«u vi«i iImw k^ IW^ale^ m |hit these mer- 
<viKMy ^4JKw^ he impdisi^ umcon^ioiiible taxes, 
KmK vi«i thi^ Ki9^:&h v^^'^^^ e^pmalhr) and Jews in 

«^ ^l^ %>^^ W Wl ittil Imi ^Baed $sx Teus» three 
I^^MM^ ^MMK* 4( MiMrjbi. mtiii^ww itoMtoi^ jflw iCvealMs days.] 
^"^ Wmnk^ ¥tk^ W^ i^(f«is ^ \\»l i K iw ag^lt die wbole 

»Tt^y^. I. x>^.V >*WA ^«i«^ T»«^ " 



> 
% 



CSNT. XIII. 



of Britain. 



147 



the kinirdom^ One Jew there was of BristolP vehe-A.D. lan. 
mently su£^>ected for wealth, though there was no " 
clear evidence thereof against him, of whom the 
king demanded ten thousand marks of silver, and 
upon his refusal, commanded that every day a tooth 
with intolerable torture should be drawn out of his 
head; which being done seven several times, on the 
eighth day he confessed his wealth, and payed the 
fine demanded ; who yielding sooner, had saved his 
teeth, or stubborn longer, had spared his money; 
now having both his purse and his jaw empty by the 
bargain. Condemn we here man's cruelty and ad- 
mire heaven's justice; for all these sums extorted 
from the Jews by temporal kings are but paying 
their arrearages to God for a debt they can never 
satisfy, namely, the crucifying of Christ<i. 

12. About the same time one Peter of Wakefield a d. ma. 
in Yorkshire, a hermit, prophesied that John should phecy of 
be king of England no longer than next Ascension- w^efidd 
day, after which solemn festival, on which Christ ^^V^ 
mounted on his glorious throne took possession of 
his heavenly kingdom, this opposer of Christ should 
no longer enjoy the English diadem. And as some 
report;- he foretold that none of king John's lineage 
should after him be crowned in the kingdom. The 
king called this prophet an idiot-knave"*; which de- 
scription of him, implying a contradiction, the king 
thu9 reconciled, pardoning him as an idiot, and 



o [Ann. Waverl. in 1210. 
On his return from Ireland 
29th of August, he laid a heavy 
exfiction on the abbeys and re- 
ligious houses, particularly the 
Cistercians. Triv. I. 154.] 
' P Mat. Paris^ in anno 1 2 1 o. 



q pn 1 210 all the Jews 
were apprehended, their goods 
confiscated, and they them- 
selves by a public edict banish- 
ed from England. Trivet. 154.] 

' Fox, Acts, &c. I. p. 229. 
[Mat. Paris, in an. 1212.] 

l2 



148 The Church History book in. 

A.D. 1213. punishing him as a knave with imprisonment in 

— ^ Corfe castle. The fetters of the prophet gave wings 

to his prophecy, and whereas the king's neglecting it 
might have puffed this vain prediction into wind, men 
began now to suspect it of some solidity, because 
deserving a wise prince's notice and displeasure. 
Far and near it was dispersed over the whole king- 
dom, it being generally observed •, that the English 
nation are most superstitious in believing such 
reports, which causeth them to be more common 
here than in other countries. For as the receiver 
makes the thief, so popular credulity occasioneth 
this prophetical vanity, and brokers would not set 
such base ware to sale but because they are sure to 
light on chapmen. 
AD. 1913. 13. Leave we the person of this Peter in a dark 
John'B rob- duugeou, and his credit as yet in the twilight, be- 
JJJJ^^^ twixt prophet and impostor, to behold the miserable 
condition of king John, perplexed with the daily 
preparation of the French king's invasion of England, 
assisted by many English malecontents and all the 
banished bishops*. Good patriots, who, rather than 
the fire of their revenge should want fiiel, would 
bum their own country which bred them ! Hereupon 
king John having his soul battered without with 
foreign fears, and foundered within by the falseness 
of his subjects, sunk on a sudden beneath himself to 
an act of unworthy submission and subjection to the 
pope. For on Ascension eve, May 15, being in the 
town of Dover, standing as it were on tiptoes, on the 
utmost edge, brink and label of that land, which now 

" Cominseus saith, that the moires de Phil, de Commines^ 
English are never without f. 18a. b. ed. 1577.] 
some prophecy on foot. [M^- * [Trivet. 1. 15 70 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 149 

he was about to surrender, king John by an instru- a.d. 1113. 

ment or charter % sealed and solemnly delivered in ^ 

the presence of many prelates and nobles to Pan- 
dulphus the pope's legate, granted to God and the 
church of Rome, the apostles Peter and Paul, and to 
pope Innocent the Third and his successors, the 
whole kingdom of England and Ireland. And took 
an estate thereof back again, yielding and paying 
yearly to the church of Rome, over and above the 
Peter-pence, a thousand marks sterling, viz. 700 for 
England, and 300 for Ireland. In the passing hereof 
this ceremony is observable, that the king's instru- 
ment to the pope was sealed with a seal of gold^, 
and the pope's to the king, which I have beheld and 
perused, remammg amongst many rarities in the earl 
of Arundel's library, was sealed with a seal of lead. 
Such bargains let them look for who barter with his 
holiness, always to be losers by the contract. Thy 
sUveVj saith the prophet, is become dross^ : and here 
was the change of Glaucus and Diomedes made, as 
in the sequel of the history will appear. 

14. Yet we find not that this fee-farm of a thou- The rent 
sand marks was ever paid, either by king John or by the pope, 
his successors, but that it is all run on the score even ^ded by 
unto this present day. Not that the pope did remit ^"^ 
it out of his free bounty, but for other reasons was 
rather contented to have them use his power 
therein. Perchance suspecting the English kings 
would refuse to pay it, he accounted it more honour 

▼ [This instrument is exem- wax, and the next year so* 

plified in Trivet, 1. 158. Ann. lemnly embossed with metal 

Waverl. in a. T2 13, and in the in the presence of Nicholas 

Foedera, 1. 1 1 1 .] the pope's legate. 

^ Both instruments for the ^ Isai. i. 22. 
present were but sealed with 

l3 



150 Th€ Church History book in. 

A.D. f sf3. not to demand it than to be denied it. Or it may be 
'^ ^^^' his holiness might conceive, that accepting of this 
money might colourably be extended to the catting 
him off from all other profits he might gain in the 
kingdom. The truth is, he did scorn to take so poor 
a revenue per annum out of two kingdoms, but 
did rather endeavour to convert all the profits of 
both lauds to his own use, as if he had been seized 
of all in demesnes. 
TImi prmid 15. At the same time king John on his knees sur- 
Piw^^^ rendered the crown of England into the hands of 
ttr.^**** Pandulphus, and also presented him with some 
money as the earnest of his subjection, which the 
proud prelate trampled under his feet^. A gesture 
applauded by some, as shewing how much his holi- 
ness, whom he personated, slighted worldly wealth, 
caring as little for king John's coin, as his prede- 
cessor St. Peter* did for the money of Simon Magus. 
Others, and especially Henry archbishop of Dublin, 
then present, were both grieved and angry thereat, 
as an intolerable affront to the king ; and there 
wanted not those who condemned his pride and 
hypocrisy, knowing Pandulphus to be a most greedy 
griper, as appeared by his unconscionable oppression 
in the bishopric of Norwich, which was afterwards 
bestowed upon himy. And perchance he trampled 
on it, not as being money, but because no greater 
sum thereof. Five days, namely. Ascension day, and 

"^ Matt. Paris, p. 237. for his text these words: In 
* Acts viii. 20. Deo speravit cor meum, et ad- 
y [An instance of his unpo. jutus sum et rejloruit caro mea : 
pularity is mentioned in the on which one starting up ex- 
Ann, of Waverley, p. 178. claimed aloud : per 77tor/em Det 
When the legate was preaching mentiris, nunquam cortuum spe* 
at Westminster, after abro- ravit in DeOf Sec."] 
gating the interdict, he took 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 151 

four days after, Pandulplius kept the crown in hisA.D. 1113. 

possession, and then restored it to king John again. 

A long eclipse of royal lustre ; and strange it is, that 
no bold monk in his blundering chronicles did not 
adventure to place king Innocent, with his five days, 
reign, in the catalogue of English kings, seeing they 
have written what amounts to as much in this matter. 

16. Now all the dispute was, whether Peter of Peter the 
Wakefield had acquitted himself a true prophet or]^^^ 
no. The romanized faction were zealous in his^^^^ 
behalf, John after that day not being king in the<^*P"^- 
same sense and sovereignty as before, not free but 
feodary, not absolute, but dependent on the pope, 
whose legate possessed the crown for the time being, 

so that his prediction was true in that lawful latitude 
justly allowed to all prophecies. Others, because 
the king was neither naturally nor civilly dead, con- 
demned him of forgery; for which, by the king's 
command, he was dragged at the horse-tail from 
Corfe castle, and with his son hanged in the town of 
Wareham*. A punishment not undeserved, if he 
foretold (as some report) that none of the line or 
lineage of king John should after be crowned in 
England; of whose offspring some shall flourish in 
free and full power on the English throne, when the 
chair of pestilence shall be burnt to ashes ; and nei- 
ther triple-crown left at Rome to be worn, nor any 
head there which shall dare to wear it. 

17. Next year the interdiction was taken offA.D.1214, 
the kingdom, and a general jubilee of joy all o ver ^j^j^^q^J o^" 
the land*. Banished bishops being restored to their ^^^* 

* Mat. Paris ut prius. [Ann. poralities were restored (Tri- 
Waverleiens. and Wikes in a. vet, I. 160.), nor were they 
1 2 13.] perfectly satisfied when John 

a [The clergy would not re- obtained from the papal see a 
lax tiie interdict till their tern- relaxation of the interdict on 

L 4 



15C Tke Ckmrtk HiMimy book ui . 

A. D. 1314-8668, senice and saeramentB beii^ administered in 
— the church as before. But small reascm had king 



John to rejoice, being come out of God's blessing, of 
whom before he immediately held the crown into 
the warm sun, or rather scorching heat of the pope's 
protection, which proTed little beneficial unto him. 
Tbepope^t 18. A brawl happened betwixt him and the ba- 
tntcs the nishcd bishops, now returned home, about satis&ction 
Xm^ihft for their arrears, and reparation of their damages 
^2|^ during the interdiction; all which term the king 
had retained their revenues in his hands. To mode- 
rate this matter, Nicholas a Tusculan cardinal and 
legate was employed by the pope ; who after many 
meetings and synods to audit their accounts, reduced 
all at last to the gross sum of forty thousand marks, 
the restoring whereof by the king unto them was 
thus divided into three payments ". 

i. Twelve thousand marks Pandulphus carried over 
with him into France, and delivered them to the 
bishops before their return. 

ii. Fifteen thousand were paid down at the late 
meeting in Reading. 

iii. For the thirteen thousand remaining they had 
the king's oath, bond, and other sureties. 

But then in came the whole cry of the rest of the 
clergy, who stayed all the while in the land, bringing 
in the bills of their several sufferings and losses sus- 
tained, occasioned by the interdiction. Yea, some 
had so much avarice and little conscience, they 
could have been contented the interdiction had still 
remained, until all the accidental damages were re- 
paired. But cardinal Nicholas averred them to amount 

condition of restoring within moiety each year, ib.] 
five years all that he had taken \^ Ann. Waverl. ibid.] 
from the churches, paying a 



cEMT.xiii. of Britain. 158 

to an incredible sum, impossible to be paid, and un- a.d. 11,4. 
reasonable to be demanded ; adding withal, that in — L 



general grievances, private men may be glad if the 
main be made good unto them, not descending to 
petty particulars, which are to be cast out of course, 
as inconsiderable in a common calamity. Hereupon, 
and on some other occasions, much grudging and 
justling there was betwixt Stephen archbishop of 
Canterbury and the legate, as one in his judgment and 
carriage too propitious and partial to the king's cause. 

19. The remnant of this king's reign afforded little Tiie barons 
ecclesiastical story, but what is so complicated with against 
the interest of state, that it is more proper for the J^^ 
chronicles of the commonwealth. But this is the 

brief thereof. The barons of England demanded of a.d. 1115. 
king John to desist from that arbitrary and tyrannical 
power he exercised, and to restore king Edward's 
laws, which his great-grandfather king Henry the 
First had confirmed to the church and state, for the 
general good of his subjects ; yea, and which he him- 
self, when lately absolved from the sentence of ex- 
communication by Stephen archbishop of Canter- 
bury, had solemnly promised to observe. But king 
John, though at the first he condescended to their 
requests, afterwards repented of his promise, and re- 
fused the performance thereof. Hereupon the barons 
took up arms against him, and called in Lewis prince 
of France, son to Philip Augustus, to their assistance, 
promising him the crown of England for his reward ^. 

20. Yet the pope endeavoured what lay in hisA.D. 1216. 
power to dissuade prince Lewis from this design, to prince of 
which at first he encouraged him, and now forbad ^^^^' 
him in vain^ For where a crown is the game*^®*^*^ 

^ to invade 

b [Trivet, 1. 162. Ann. Waverl. a. 1215.] c [Trivet, I. 165.] ^ 



IM 



The Chunk Bittory 



A.p.^isi6>haDted after, Buch hounds are earner laid on I 
- either rated or hollowed off. Yea, ambition 



brought this prince into this dilemma; that L 
invaded England he waa accursed by the pope ; i 
invaded it not forawom of himself having prom 
upon oath by sach a time to be at Loudon. ( 
comes Lewis into EIngland, and there hath the ] 
cipal learning of the land the clergy, the strei 
thereof the barons, the wealth of the same 
Londoners, to join with him ; who but ill requ 
king John for his late bounty to their city in 
^ving them a mayor for their governor^. G 
the pope's new legate sent on purpose, besti 
himself with book, bell, and candle. Excom 
nicating the archbishop of Canterbury with all 
nobility opposing king John, now in protectioi 
his holiness. But the commonness of these cu 
caused them to be contenmed, so that they we 
fright to few, a mock to many, and an hurt to nor 
Anonwor. 21, King Johu thus distressed, sent a base, d 
bJ^ nerous, and uuchristianlike embassage to Admin 
tofc ^ Murmelius, a Mahometan king of Morocco, 1 
of Morocco, ygpy pulsBaut, and posses^g a great part of Sp 
offering him, on condition he would send him 
cour, to hold the kingdom of England as a vi 
from him, and to receive the law of Mahomet^ 



d Granted to the city anno 
Dom. 1309. Orafton's [A- 
bridgmeDt of the Chron. f. 49. 
ed. 1563.] 

*> [Trivet, I. 166.] 

* Mat. Paris, p. 245, placeth 
this two yean sooner, viz, an. 
1313- [Watts in his Adversaria 
to Mat. Paris justly throws 
discredit upon this narrative. 



Wendover upon whom 
Paris based the earlier pa 
his Chronicle, and Matuit 
Westminster, who has abri 
Mat. Paris, a writer of 
judgment, and one who 
inserted many foolish 
ments into his Chronicle, : 
tion nothing of this emt 
Not the slightest notice 



CENT. xiii. of Britain. 156 

Moor, mdrvellou&ly offended with his oflfer, told theA.D.iit6. 

ambassadors that he lately had read Paxil's Epistles, J L 

which for the matter liked him veiy well, save only 
that Paul once renounced that faith wherein he was 
bom, and the Jewish profession. Wherefore he ne- 
glected king John, as devoid both of piety and policy, 
who would love his liberty and disclaim his religion. 
A strange tender, if true. Here, whilst some allege 
in behalf of kinjg John, that cases of extremity ex* 
cuse counsels of extremity, when liberty is not left 
to choose what is best, but to snatch what is next, 
neglecting future safety for present subsistence, we. 
only li^en to the saying of Solomon; Oppression 
mdketh a wise man mad^. In a fit of which fiiry, 
oppressed on all sides with enemies, king John, 
scarce compos sui, may be presumed to have pitched 
on this project. o 

22. King John having thus tried Turk and pope^ The la. 
and both with bad success, sought at last to escape ^th of 
those his enemies, whom he could not resist, by a far^"*^ ^^^^ 
and £et6t march into the north-eastern comities. 
Where turning mischievous instead of valiant, he 
cruelly burnt all the stacks of com of such as he 
conceived disaffected unto him ; doing therein most 
spite to the rich for the present, but in fine more 
spoil to the poor, the prices of grain falling heavy on 
those who were least able to bear them. Coming to 
Lynn, he rewarded the fidelity of that town unto 
him, with bestowing on that corporation his own 

is found either in the Foedera nerally called in our chro* 

or in the other state docu. nicies), which probably gave 

ments which hitherto have occasion to this fiction, see 

been printed of this reign. Annales Waverleienses^ p. 175. 

Of the invasion of Spain by ed. Fell.] 
Miramomelinus (as he is ge- ' Eccles. vii. 7. 



156 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1316. sword <i^; which had he himself but known how well 

J L to manage, he had not so soon been brought into so 

sad a condition. He gave also to the same place a 
fair silver cup all gilded. But few days after a worse 
cup was presented to king John at Swineshed- 
abbey in Lincolnshire, by one Simon a monk, of 
poisoned wine, whereof the king died*". A murder 
so horrid, that it concerned all monks who in that 
age had the monopoly of writing histories, to conceal 
it, and therefore give out sundry other causes of his 
death. Some report him heartbroken with grief for 
the loss of his baggage and treasure drowned in the 
passage over the washes*; it being just with God, 
that he who had plagued others with fire should be 
punished by water, a contrary but as cruel an 
element. Others ascribe his death to a looseness 
and scouring with blood ^\ others to a cold sweat ; 
others to a burning heat ; all effects not inconsistent 
with poison, so that they in some manner may seem 
to set down the symptoms and suppress his disease*. 
King 23. It is hard to give the true character of this 

,3cter*de- king's Conditions. For we only behold him through 
^^^^ such light as the friars his foes shew him in ; who 
so hold the candle, that with the shadow thereof 
they darken his virtues and present only his vices. 
Yea, and as if they had also poisoned his memory, 



? Camd. Brit, in Norfolk, 

[P- 350-1 
^ Wil. Caxton (Julian the 

notary) in his Chron. called 
Fructus Temp. lib. vii. [f. 62. 
ed. 1515. So it is stated in 
the chronicle of Thorn. Wykes, 
p. 38. According to Walter 
Hemingford he died from eat- 
ing a poisoned pear. Chron. 



P- 559-] 

^ Mat. Paris, p. 287 

^ Compare Mr. Fox, Acts, 
&c. I. 333, with Holinshed, 
p. 194. [Hist. Croyland, 474.] 

1 [He died at Newark 19 
Oct. " In ipso belli apparatu 
•' morbo correptus." Trivet, 
I. 166. An. Waverl. a. 1216.] 



csKT.xiii. of Britain. 157 

they cause his faults to swell to a prodigious great-A.D.iai6. 

ness, making him with their pens more black in-! 

conditions than the Morocco king, whose aid he 
requested, could be in complexion. A murderer of 
his nephew Arthur, a defiler of the wives and 
daughters of his nobles, sacrilegious in the church, 
profiEUie in his discourse, wilful in his private reso- 
lutions, various in his public promises, false in his 
faith to men, and wavering in his religion to God. 
The favourablest expression of him falls from the 
pen of Roger Hoveden™: " Princeps quidem magnus 
^^ erat, sed minus felix, atque ut Marius, utramque 
" fortimam expertus." Perchance he had been 
esteemed more pious, if more prosperous ; it being 
an usual (though uncharitable) error, to account 
mischances to be misdeeds. But we leave him 
quietly buried in Worcester church, and proceed in 
our story. 

24. Henry, the third of that name, his son, sue- 1 Hen. iii. 
ceeded him, being but ten years old, and wasThSd 
crowned at Gloucester by a moiety of the nobility to'J^^S*' 
and clergy, the rest siding with the French Lewis". fi^^*™®^ 
Now what came not so well from the mouth of 
Abijah the son, concerning his father Rehoboam, 
posterity may no less truly and more properly pro- 
noimce of this Henry, even when a man, He was 
but a child, and tender-hearted ^ But what strength 
was wanting in the ivy itself, was supplied by the 
oaks, his supporters, his tutors and governors ; first, 
William Mareschal, earl of Pembroke, and after his 
death, Peter bishop of WinchesterP. But of these 

™ [Hist, f . ? .] P [Peter de Rupibus or de 

» [Trivet, I. 167.] Roches. The Chronicle of 

o 2 Chron. xiii. 7. Lanercost gives him rather an 



158 The Church History book iii. 

A. D. iai6. two protectors succeasiyely, a sword man and a church 

1 Hmi. Ill 

'^«r^ the litter left the deeper impression on this 
our king Henry, appearing more religious than reso- 
lute, devout than valiant. EQs reign was not only 
long for continuance, fifty-six years, but also thick 
for remarkable mutations happening therein. 
A.D. 1317. 25. Within little more than a twelvemonth he 
means king recovered the entire possession of his kingdom, 
^Jy"^ many things concurring to expedite so great an 
^^J^^" alteration. First, the insolency of the French, dis- 
obliging the English by their cruelty and wanton- 
ness. Secondly, the inconstancy of the English (if 
starting loyalty's return to its lawful sovereign may 
be so termed), who, as for their own turns they 
called in Lewis, so for their turns they cast him out. 
Thirdly, the innocence of prince Henry, whose harm- 
less age, as it attracted love to him on his own 
account, so he seemed also hereditarily to succeed to 
some pity, as the son of a suflFering lather. Fourthly, 
the wisdom and valour, counsel and courage of Wil- 
liam earl of Pembroke his protector; who having 
got the French Lewis out of his covert of the city of 
London into the champion field, so mauled him at 
the fatal battle of Lincoln, that soon after the said 
Lewis was fain, by the colour of a composition, to 
qualify his retreat, not to say his flight, into the 
honour of a departure. Lastly and chiefly, the 
'. mercy of God to an injured orphan^ and his justice 
that detained right, though late yet at last, should 
return to its proper owner. 



unfavourable character, but munication with scorn. The 

this might have been because same chronicle mentions a very 

he advised king John to treat strange anecdote respecting 

the pope's sentence of excom- this prelate, p. 23.] 



ctm*. XIII. of Britain. 159 

26. But it were not only uncivil, but injurious forA-D-iai;. 

us to meddle with these matters, proper to the pens \ — '- 

of the civil historians. We shall therefore confine dpd design 
ourselves principally to take notice in this king's ^jTSn^ 
reign, as of the unconscionable extortions of the^®* 
court of Rome, on the one side, to the detriment of 

the king and kingdom : so of the defence which the 
king, as well as he could, made against it. Defence, 
which though too feint and feeble fully to recover 
his right from so potent oppression, yet did this 
good, to continue his claim and preserve the title of 
his privileges, until his son and successors in after- 
ages could more effectually rescue the rights of their 
crown from papal usurpation. 

27. Indeed at this time many things emboldened Occasions 
the pope, not over-bashfiil of himself, to be the pope's in- 
more busy in the collecting of money. First, the^^ing. 
troublesomeness of the times and best fishing for 

him in such waters. Secondly, the ignorance of 
most, and the obnoxiousness of some of the English 
clergy. Now such as had weak heads must find 
strong backs, and those that led their lives loose 
durst not carry their purses tied, or grudge to pay 
dear for a connivance at their viciousness. Thirdly, 
the minority of king Henry, and (which was worse) 
his nonage after his fiill age; such was his weak- 
ness of spirit and lowness of resolution. Lastly, the 
pope conceiving that this king got his crown under 
the comitenance of his excommunicating his enemies, 
thought that either king Henrjr's weakness could not 
see, or his goodness would wink at his intolerable 
extortions; which how great soever, were but a 
large shiver of that loaf which he had given into the 
king's hand. Presuming on the premises, Gualo the 



100 Tke Ckaarck HUianf book hi. 

A. D,f 417. pope's legate, bj his inqiiisitorB throoghoat England, 

'- — collected a vast sum of money of the clergy for 

their misdemeanours ; Hugo bishop of Lincoln pay- 
ing no less for his share than a thousand marks 
sterling to the pope, and an hundred to this his 
legate^. Yet when this Gualo departed, such as 
hated his dwelling here, grieved at his going hence, 
because fearing a worse in his room, choosing rather 
to be sucked by full than fresh flies, hoping that 
those already gorged would be afterwards less 
greedy. 
aJaT I ^^* ^^^ being now to give the reader a short 
account of the long reign of this king, I shall alter 
my proceedings ; embracing a new course which 
hitherto I have not, nor hereafter shall venture 
upon. Wherein I hope the variation may be not 
only pleasant but profitable to the reader, as scien- 
tifical and satisfactory in itself; namely, I will for 
the present leave off consulting with the large and 
numerous printed or manuscript authors of that age, 
and betake myself only to the tower-records, all au- 
thentically attested under the hands of William 
Ryley, Norroy, keeper of that precious treasury. 
i\wA text, 29. When I have first exemplified them, I shall 
iK« oom. proceed to make such observations upon them, as 
according to my weakness I conceive of greatest 
concernment ; being confident that few considerables 
in that age (which was the crisis of regal and papal 
power in this land) will escape our discovery herein. 

^ Mat« I\uris> p« a99« [The laid undo' sentence of excom- 

ivul^u^ulde rettsoa iGr Gualo nmnkatioii. Alexander king 

Wii^jt 9eiit over into England of Scotland and his whole 

wa« to deietKl king Hennr's; leahu weie for the same cause 

ryfht n^Eain^ Lewis and hb inTohed in ^e same sentence. 

ilk|^fi«rt«i9» whom the kgale C^nau de Lanefcost, p. 23.] 






CENT. XIII. of Britain. 161 

SO, Only I desire a pardon for the premising ofA.D. nar. 
this touch of state matters'. At this instant the — ^' 
commonwealth had a great serenity, as lately cleared the itate."* 
from such active spirits, who nick-named the calm 
and quiet of peace, a sloth of government. Such 
FaJkesius de Breaute' and others, who had merited 
much in setting this Henry the Third on the throne ; 
and it is dangerous when subjects confer too great 
benefits on their sovereigns ; for afterwards their 
minds are only made capable of receiving more 
reward, not doing more duty. These were offended, 
when such lands and castles which by the heat of 
war had unjustly been given them, by peace were 
justly took away from them, finding such upright- 
ness in the king, that his power of protection would 
not be made a wrong doer. But now the old stock 
of such malecontents being either worn out with 
age or ordered otherwise into obedience, all things 
were in an universal tranquillity within the first 
seven years of this king's reign. / 

^ [Trivet. 1. 174.] with men and ammunition^ he 
« [During the troubles of rose against the king, was de- 
John and the minority of his feated, and experienced thence- 
successor^ this noUeman^ the forth such a reverse of fortune^ 
most powerful baron of his that within a year, he who 
time^ had pounced upon the had exceeded all the nobility 
counties of Northampton, Ox- of England in wealthy power, 
fbrdshire^ Buckin^amshire, and splendour, was now an 
Bedfordshire, with the forests exile in France, compelled to 
and castles adjacent. In 1 221 seek his bread by begging, and 
he was compelled to resign his had not where to lay his head, 
ill-gotten possessions ; but in (" etiam capitis reclinatorium 
1 2 24, having fortified the castle " non haberet.") Trivet. I. 
oi Bedford, and furnished it 1 74, 1 80.] 



FULLER^ VOL. II. M 



THOMiE HANSON, 



^MICO MEO». 



DispUcet mihi modemus scribendi moSy quo monumenta 
indies exarantur, Literce enim suntjkigacesy ut quce non 
stabili manu penitus membranis infiguntur^ sed currente 
ccdamo summam earum cuticulam viae leviter persirin- 
gunt, HcR cum sceculum unum et alterum duraverint, 
vel linceis oculis lectu erunt perdiffidles. 

Haud ita olim archivay in turre Zjondinensi, RotuUsy 
ScaccariOf <$*c. deposita; in quibus ingens scribarum 
cur ay Juita membranarum JlrmitaSy atramentum vere 
JEthiopicumy integra literarum lineamentay ut calamus 
praii cbmulus videatur, Ita adhuc vigent omnia, in 
illis qucB irecentis ah hinc annis notata, ut is cui cha- 
racteris antiquitas minus cognita nuperrime descripta 
judicaret. 

Ex his nonnuUa decerpsi ad rem nostram Jadentia, et ea 
tibi dedicanda curavi, quem omnes norunt antiquitatis 

* [Arms. A chevron com- III. They afterwards suc- 
pony argent and azure between ceeded to the estates of Wood- 
three martlets sable. These house by a marriage with an 
arms were borne by an ancient heiress of that family. See 
family of this name seated at Visitation of Yorkshire, 1666. 
Rastrick as early as Henry B.] 



CENT. XIII. The C/iiavh History of Britain. 163 

caniciem venerari ; quo in Ducattis Lancattrensis char- 
ttdig cuatadiendis nemo JttleUor^ perUgendia oculatior, 
communicandis candidior. 




i^RE we begin with the king's precept a.d. 1113. 
to the sheriif of Buckinghamshire, I—f!!: — .' 
considerable for the rarity thereof, abb writ of 
though otherwise but 
private concernment. 
Pro Emma de Pinkeny. 



Rex yic. Bucking, salt. 
Precipimus tibi quod de ma. 
ritagio Emme de Pinkeny 
uxorit Laurenlii Peivre, qui 
excommutiicalui ett, eo quod 
prediclam fimmam ojfec- 
(tone maritali non Iractal, 
adem Emme ralionabile 
ettoverum tuum invenias, 
Amec idem Laurenlius vir 
mvt eam tanquam uxorem 
tuatn tractaverit ne ileratut 
clamor ad not inde perve- 
niat. [A.D. 1323.]'' 



" To the high sheriff of Buck- 
' ingtiatnsbire. We commend 
' yon concerning [the marriage 
' portion of] Emma de Pinkeny, 
' mfe of Laurence Peivre, who 
' is excommunicated, because he 
' does not use the foresaid Emma 
' with affection befitting a hus- 
' band, that you find for the said 
' Emma estover in reasonable 
' proportion, unti! the said Lau- 
' rence her husband shall use her 
' as becometh his wife, [that her 
' coDiplalut may not be brought 
" before us again."] 

Of this Laurence Pinkeny I can say nothing: 
only I find his fitmily ancient, and barons of Wedon 
in Northamptonshire*^. It seemeth strange ho should 
be excommunicated for not loving usage of his wife, 
no incoutineDcy appearing (proved against him), 
except his carriage was cruel in a high degree. By 

^ [Collated with the original Pinkeney, instead of Laur. 

intheTower,7Hen.III.niem.3. Peivre. See another and pre- 

8ee also Hardy's Close Rolls,I. vious precept to the sheriff 

561. This letter, or rather pre- touching the same parties, 

cept, was printed before very ; Hen. Ill.mem. 14.] 
incoirectly. Among other er- ' Camden. Brit, in North- 

rors, the name w»s given Laur. amptonshire, [p. 374.] 
M 2 



164 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A D. 122^. estover, in our forest towns, we only understand a 

T Hah TIF 

' certain allowance of wood ; though the extent of the 
word be far larger, importing nourishment, or main- 
tenance in meat and cloth, as a learned lawyer hath 
observed**. This it seems being denied by her 
husband, the king enjoineth the sheriff that he 
should appoint the said Emma Pinkeny reasonable 
alimony, in proportion, no doubt, to her portion and 
her husband's estate. 
A.D. 1233. 2. Next we take notice of a writing which the 
able prohi- king Sent ovor to the archbishop of Dublin, and 
papal Hp. which deserveth the reader's serious perusal. 

peals. 

" «Rex Dublin. Archiepiscopo Justiciario Hi- 
" bemise salutem. Ad ea quae vobis nuper nostris 
" dedimus in mandatis ut nobis rescriberetis qua- 
" tonus fuisset processum in causa Nicholai de 
" Felda qui contra Abbatem et Canonicos Sti. 
" Thomse Dublinensis in curia nostra coram Justi- 
" ciariis nostriis petiit duas carucatas terr^ cum per- 
tinentiis in Kelredheri per assisam de morte ante- 
cessoris cui etiam coram eisdem Justiciariis objecta 
" fuit bastardia propter quod ab ipsis Justiciariis 



u 



u 



^ Bracton, III. 1 8. [ed. 1 569. 
Estoverium, from the French 
estoffer or estouver, that is, to 
provide material, to furnish 
stuff. Hence the word stover 
is used among our old writers, 
and in some places of England 
at the present day, in the sense 
of stuff or fodder for cattle ; 
thus in Shakspeore's Tempest, 
Act. IV, Sc. I. 

" Thy turfy mountains where live 

'' nibbling sheep, 
<^ And flat meads thatched with 

*' stover them to keep." 



In a legal sense this term was 
used to signify, firsts provision 
of food and clothing; after- 
wards, the wood or firing which 
one person might legally take 
from the lands of another for 
firing, hedging, &c. See Spel- 
man's Glossary, s. v.] 

^ Claus. 8. Hen. III. memh. 
17. in dor so, [Collated with 
the original. See also Hardy's 
Close Rolls, I. p. 629.] 



CSHT. XIII. of Britain. 165 

'^ nostris ad vos fuit transmissus ut in foro eccle-A.D. 1223. 
« siastico de ejus bastardia sive legitimitate cogno- L^lflLl^i 
** sceretis ; nobis per litteras vestras significastis 
** quod cum in foro civili terram praedictam peteret 
" per litteras nostras de morte antecessoris versus 
^' memoratos Abbatem et Canonicos objecta ei fuit 
^ nota bastardiae quare in foro eodem tunc non fuit 
^^ ulterius processum. Memoratus etiam Nicholaus 
*^ de mandate Justiciariorum nostrorum in foro ec- 
" clesiastico coram vobis volens probare se esse legiti- 
^* mum, testes produxit et publicatis attestationibus 
*^ suis post diutinas altercationes et disputationes 
** tarn ex parte Abbatis quam ipsius Nicholai, cum 
"ad calcidum diflinitivae sententiae procedere vel- 
" letis, comparuerunt duae puellae minoris aetatis, 
** filiae Bicardi de la Feldae, patris prsedicti Nicholai 
** et appellaverunt ne ad sententiam ferendam proce- 
^ deretis, quia in hoc manifestum earum verteretur 
** prejudicium eo quod alias precluderetur eis via 
petendi hereditatem petitam, nee possit eis sub- 
veniri per restitutionem in integrum. Unde de 
*• consilio virorum prudentum ut dicitis appellationi 
" deferentes, causam secundum quod coram Nobis 
agitata est Domino Papae transmisistis instructam. 
De quo plurimum admirantes non immerito mo- 
vemur cum de legitimitate prenominati Nicholai 
per testium productiones et attestationum publica- 
tiones plene vobis constiterit, vos propter appella- 
tionem puellarum predictarum contra quas non 
agebatur vel etiam de quibus nulla fiebat mentio 
in assisa memorata nee fuerunt aliquse partes 
illarum in causa predicta sententiam diffinitivam 
" pro eo distulistis pronunciare et male quasi no- 
" strum declinantes examen, et volentes id quod 

M 3 






U 



U 



U 



166 The Church Hisiitry book iii. 

A.D. 1223. «« per nostram detemimandam esset jurisdictionem 

" et dignitatem, ad alienam transferre dignitatem 

quod Talde pemiciosum esset exemplo ; cum etiam 

si adeptos esset praedictus Nicholaos possessione 

terne pnedict^e per assisam pnedictam, beneficium 

peticionis hsereditatis praedictis puelUs plane sup- 

" peteret in curia nostra, per breye de recto ; 

maxime cum per litteras de morte antecessoris 

agatur de possessione et non de proprietate et ex 

'*' oflScio yestro in casu proposito nihil aliud ad yos 

*^ pertinebat, nisi tantum de ipsius Nicholai legiti- 

*^ matu probationes admittere ; et ipsum cum litteris 

^^ yestris testimonialibus ad Justiciarios nostros re- 

^^ mittere. De consilio igitur magnatum et fidelium 

*^ nobis assisteutium yobis mandamus firmiter injun- 

^* gentes quatenus non obstante appellatione prae- 

^^ missa non differatis pro eo sentenciare ipsum ad 

" Justiciarios nostros remittentes cum litteris yestris 

^^ testimonialibus ut ei de loquela coram eis agitata 

** postmodum possint secundum legem et consuetu- 

** dinem terrae nostras Hibemiae Justiciar plenitu- 

" dinem exhibere. Teste Henrico, &c. apud Glouc; 

" xix. die Noyembris." [A.D. 1223.]^ 



of the in- 
itrument. 



The effect 3. The sum of this instrument is this. One Ni- 
cholas de Field suing for a portion of ground detained 
from him by the abbot of St. Thomas in Dublin, 
(founded and plentifully endowed in memory of 
Thomas Becket,) had bastardy objected against him. 
The clearing hereof was by the king's judges re- 
mitted to the courts ecclesiastical, where the said 

' [Mr. Hardy in the preface translation of this instrument, 
to his edition of the Close Vol. I. p. xxxiv.] 
Rolls has given the entire 



CENT. xiii. of Britain. 167 

Nicholas produced effectual proofs for his leriti-A.D. 1223. 

T^ 1 1 5 . , , 7 Hen. III. 

mation. But upon the appeal of two minor daughters 

of the father of the said Nicholas, who never before 
appeared, and who, if wronged, had their remedy at 
common law, by a writ of right the matter was by 
the archbishop of Dublin transferred to the court of 
Rome. 

4. The king saith in this his letter that he did Appeal to 

the pope 

much admire thereat, and (though all interests ex- prohibited. 
press themselves to their own advantage) intimates 
the act not usual. And whereas he saith, ^' that the 
" example would be pernicious," it seems, if this 
were a leading case, the king's desire was it should 
have none to follow it, peremptorily enjoining the 
archbishop (notwithstanding the aforesaid appeal to 
the pope) to proceed to give sentence on the behalf 
of the said Nicholas, and not to derive the king's 
undoubted right to a foreign power. 

5. Indeed the kin^s of Enriand were so crest- The time 

11 makes itthe 

fallen, or rather crown-fallen in this age, that the more re- 
forbidding of such an appeal appeareth in him a™^ 
daring deed. Est aliquid prodire tenm. Essays in 
such nature were remarkable, considering the inun- 
dation of the papal power. Green leaves in the 
depth of winter may be more than full flowers from 
the same root in the spring. It seems some royal 
sap still remained in the English sceptre, that it 
durst oppose the pope in so high a degree. 

6. In this year 1235 the Caursines first came into Caursine* 

what thev 

England, proving the pests of the land, and bane of were, 
the people therein ?. These were Italians by birth. 



e [See Spelman's Gloss, s. v. and arrival in this country^ see 
Caursini, Of their original Mat. Paris, p. 417.] 

M 4 



i9Hen.1II. 



168 The Church History book hi. 

A. p. I a35. terming themselves the pope's merchants, driving no 
other trade than letting out money, great banks 
whereof they brought over into England ; differing 
little from the Jews, save that they were more mer- 
ciless to their debtors. Now because the pope's 
legate was all for ready money when any tax by levy, 
commutation of vows, tenths, dispensations, &c. were 
due to the pope, from prelate, convents, priests, or 
lay persons, these Caursines instantly furnished them 
with present coin upon their solemn bonds and obli- 
gations : one form whereof we have inserted. 

*»To all that shall see the present writing, Thomas the 
prior and the convent of Barnwell wish health in the 
Lord. Know that we have borrowed and received at 
London, for ourselves, profitably to be expended for 
the affairs of our church, from Francisco and Gre- 
gorio, for them and then- partners, citizens and mer- 
chants of Milan, a hundred and four marks of lawful 
money sterling, thirteen shillings four pence sterling 
being counted to every mark. Which said one hun- 
dred and four marks we promise to pay back on the 
feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, being the first day of 
August, at the new temple in London, in the year 1335. 
And if the said money be not throughly paid, at the 
time and place aforesaid, we bind ourselves to pay to 
the foresaid merchants, or any one of them, or their 
certain attorney, for every ten marks, forborne two 
months, one mark of money for recompense of the 
damages which the foresaid merchants may incur by 
the not payment of the money unto them ; so that 
both principal, damages, and expenses, as above ex- 
pressed, with the expenses of one merchant with his 
horse and man, until such time as the aforesaid money 
be fully satisfied. For payment of principal, interest, 

^ [See the original Latin in Mat. Paris, p. 418.] 



csKT. XIII. of Britain. 169 

damaged, and expendes, we oblige ourselves, and our A.D. 1335. 
church and successors, and all our goods, and the '^ ^' 
goods of our church, movable or immovable, eccle- 
siastical or temporal, which we have or shall have, 
wheresoever they shall be found, to the foresaid mer- 
chants and their heirs ; and do recognize and acknow- 
ledge that we possess and hold the same goods from 
the said merchants by way of courtesy, until the pre- 
mises be fully satisfied. And we renounce for ourselves 
and successors all help of canon and civil law, all 
privileges and clerkship, the epistle of St. Adrian, all 
customs, statutes, lectures, indulgences, privileges, 
obtained for the king of England from the see apo- 
stolic : as also we renounce the benefit of all appeals, 
or inhibition from the king of England, with all other 
exceptions real or personal, which may be objected 
against the validity of this instrument. All these 
things we promise faithfully to observe: in witness 
whereof we have set to the seal of our convent. 
Dated at London, (Ue quinto Elphegi^ in the year of 
Grace, 1235. 

Sure bind, sure find. Here were cords enough to 
hold Samson himself, an order taken they should 
never be cut or untied, the debtor depriving himself 
of any relief, save by full payment. 

7. It will not be amiss to make some brief notes Necessary 
on the former obligation ; it being better to write tioM.'*" 
on it, than to be written in it, as the debtor con- 
cerned therein. 

One hundred and four maris] The odd four seem added 
for interest. 

Feast of St. Peter ad Vinctda'] The Popish tradition saith 
that Eudoxia the empress, wife to Theodosius the 
younger, brought two great chains, wherewith Herod 
imprisoned St. Peter, from Jerusalem to Rome, where 
they are reported seen at this day, and a solemn 
festival kept on the first of August (the quarter pay- 



170 



The Church HUtmy 



BOOK IIL 



A. D. 1235. 
i9Heii.III. 



Caursines 
whence so 
called. 



Foxes* hap 
and happi- 
ness. 



day of Rome^s revenues) in memorial thereof. But 
the name of Tjammaa hath put out St. Peter^s chains 
in our English almanack. 

New temple at London] In Fleet-street, founded by the 
knights templars, and dedicated by Heraclius pa- 
triarch of Jerusalem 1185. Galled New in relation to 
ancient temple (less and less convenient) they had 
formerly in Holbom. 

And our certain attorney] Nundus in the Latin being one 
employed to solicit their suit. 

All the goods of our church movable and immovable] Hence 
oftentimes they were forced to sell their chalices and 
altar-plate to pay the bond, and secure the rest of 
their goods, for these creditors. 

Canon and civil law] Common law not mentioned herein, 
with which these Gaursines, being foreigners, would 
have nothing to do. 

Epistle of 8t, Adrian"] This seems to be some indulgence 
granted by pope Adrian, the fourth perchance, 
whereby churches indicted found some favour against 
their creditors. 

Die quinto Elphegi] I am not datary enough to under- 
stand this. I know Elphegus to be archbishop of 
Canterbury, and martyr, and his day kept the nine- 
teenth of April : so that the money was borrowed but 
for three months ; so soon did the payment or heavy 
forfeiture in default thereof return. 

8. These Caursines were generally hated for their 
extortions. Some will have them called Caursines 
quasi Causa Ursini, so bearish and cruel in their 
causes : others Caursini quasi Corrasini, from scraping 
all together. But these are but barbarous allusions, 
though best becoming such base practices. 

9. Meantime the Caursines cared not what they 
were called, being a-kin to the cunning creature, 
which fareth best when cursed, and were indeed 
lords of thQ land according to scripture rule, the 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 171 

borrower is servant to the lender. Many of the laity, a.d. 1235. 
more of the clergy and convents, and the king him- -^ "*' — .* 
self, being deeply indebted unto them. Indeed 
Roger Black, that valiant, learned, and pious bishop 
of London, once excommunicated these Caursines 
for their oppression : but they appealing to the pope, 
(their good friend,) forced him, after much molesta- 
tion, to desist ^ 

10. These Caursines were more commonly known Cauninei 
by the name of Lombards, from Lombardy, the place bLtis the' 
of their nativity, in Italy. And although they de-**™^ 
serted England on the decaying of the pope's power 

and profit therem, yet a double memorial remaineth 
of them. One of their habitation, in Lombard-street 
in London : the other of their employment, a Lom- 
bard unto this day signifying a bank for usury, or 
pawns, still continued in the Low Countries and 
elsewhere. ,. } 

11. Meantime one may lawfully smile at the pope's Deep hypo- 
hypocrisy, forbidding usury as a sin so detestable °^*^* 
under such heavy penalties in his canon law, whilst 

his own instruments were the most unconscionable 
practisers thereof without any control. 

12. Otho, cardinal, deacon of St. Nicholas, was a. d. 1338. 
sent the pope's legate into England, and going to^f the^o^^ 
Oxford, took up his lodging in the abbey of Osney^.j]^^^ 
To him the scholars in Oxford sent a present of legate, 
victuals before dinner; and after dinner came to 
tender their attendance unto hun. The porter bemg 



i [See Mat. Paris^ p. 419 T. Walsingham, Hypodigm. 

and 875.] Neustriffi^ [p. 465. See the 

^ M. Paris, 1238. [p. 469. history of this quarrel in Thorn. 

Wood's Annals, I. 222.] Ran. Wykes, p. 43.] 
[Higden in Knyghton,p.244o.] 



ITS The Church HUtary book hi. 

A. D. 113a. an Italian, demanded their business: who answered 

22Hen.III 

^him, that they came to wait on the lord legate; 

promising themselves a courteous reception, having 
read in scripture, A man's gift maketh roomftyr hitn}: 
though here contrary to expectation they were not 
received. Call it not clownishness in the porter 
( because bred in the court of Rome), but carefulness 
for the safety of his master, 
mraiuitod. 13. But whilst the porter held the door in a 
dubious posture, betwixt open and shut, the scholars 
forced their entrance. In this juncture of time it 
unluckily happened that a poor Irish priest begged 
an alms, in whose face the clerk of the kitchen cast 
scalding water taken out of the caldron. A Welsh 
clerk beholding this, bent his bow (by this time the 
scholars had got weapons) and shot the clerk of the 
kitchen stark dead on the place™. 
Theiegate's 14. This man thus killed was much more than his 
killed bj plain place promised him to be, as no meaner than 
of Oxford, the brother of the legate himself, who being sus- 
picious (oh how jealous is guiltiness !) that he might 
find Italy in England, and fearing to be poisoned, 
appointed his brother to oversee all food for his own 
eating. And now the three nations of Irish, Welsh, 
and English, fell downright on the Italians. The 
legate fearing (as they came from the same womb) 
to be sent to the same grave with his brother, se- 
cluded himself fest locked up in the tower of Osney 
church, and there sat still and quiet, all attired in 
his canonical cope. 



I Prov. xviii. 16. lars to go armed. See Wood, 

^ [It was the fashion at ib. 223.] 
that time for the secular scho- 



csNT. XIII. of Britain. 178 

15. But he, it seems, trusted not so much to his a. d. 1338. 

canonical cope as the sable mantle of night ; under '. — 1 

the protection whereof he got out, with a guide, to^^^^ 
make his escape; not without danger of drowning ''*"«• 

in the dark, being five times to cross the river, then 
swelling with late rain, as much as the scholars with 
anger. He made fords where he foimd none, all 
known passages being waylaid ; and heard the 
scholars following after, railing on, and calling him 
usurer, simoniac, deceiver of the prince, oppressor of 
the people, &c., whilst the legate wisely turned his 
tongue into heels, spurring with might and main to 
Abingdon, where the court then lay. Hither he 
came being out of all breath and patience ; so that 
entering the king's presence, his tears and sighs 
were fiiin to relieve his tongue, not able otherwise 
to express his miseries: whom the king did most 
affectionately compassionate. 

16. And now woe to the poor clergy of Oxford, Oxford m a 
when both temporal and spiritual arms are prepared dition. " 
against them. Next day the king sent the earl 
Warren with forces against them, and a double 
commission, eripere et arripere^ to deliver the re- 
mainder of the Italians (little better than besieged 

in Osney abbey), and to seize on the scholars, of 
whom thirty, with one Otho Legista (forward it 
seems in the fray against the legate his namesake), 
were taken prisoners, and sent like felons, bound in 
carts, to Wallingford prison, and other places of 
restraint. 

17. Nor was the legate lazy the while, but sum- interdicted 
m6ning such bishops as were nearest him, inter- j^te® 
dieted the university of Oxford, and excommuni- 
cated all such as were partakers in the tumult; 



174 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



Whore- 
turns te 
Ixmdon* 



A.D. 1338. which were not the young fry of scholars, but clerks 
aiHen^iii. ^^ order, and many of them beneficed, and now 

deprived of the profit of their livings. 

18. From Abingdon the legate removed to Lon- 
don, lodging at Durham-house in the Strand : the 
king commanding the major of London to keep 
him as the apple of his eye, with watch and ward 
constantly about him. Hither he assembled the 
bishops of the land to consider and consult about 
reparation for so high an afl&ont. 
The w- 19. The bishops pleaded hard for the university of 

oedTfOTtbB Oxford, (as being the place wherein most of them 
univerwty. j^^ ^j^^.^, ^ducation.) They alleged it was secunda 

ecclesia, a second church, being the nursery of 
learning and religion. They pleaded also that the 
churlishness of the porter let in this sad accident, 
increased by the indiscretion of those in his own 
family : adding also, that the clerks of Oxford had 
deeply smarted, by their long durance and sufferings, 
for their fault therein". 

20. Mollified with the premises, the legate at last 
was over-entreated to pardon the clergy of Oxford, 
on their solemn submission, which was thus per- 
formed. They went from St. Paul's in London to 
Durham-house in the Strand, no short Italian, but 



All are re' 
conciled. 



" [One of the most zealous 
champions for the university 
was the learned and pious 
bishop Grostete, who had pro- 
cured the release of many of 
the scholars from the Tower, 
and other prisons, upon his 
own security. See Wood, ib. 
227. He also solemnly ex- 
communicated in the presence 
of the legate and the king all 
those who had laid violent 



hands upon the clerks, openly 
attributing the whole disturb- 
ance to the folly and incivility 
of the legate's household. 
(Wood, ib.) Another ver- 
sion of this tale will be found 
in the Chronicle which goes 
under the name of Thomas 
Wikes, p. 43, which being *an 
Osney chronicle, is probably 
correct.] 



CENT. XIII. 



of Britain. 



175 



an English long mile, all on foot; the bishops ofA.D. 1238. 

England, for the more state of the business, accom- '■ — '- 

panying them, as partly accessory to their fault for 
pleading in their behalf. When they came to the 
bishop of Carlisle's (now Worcester) house, the 
scholars went the rest of their way barefoot, sine 
capis et manteUis^ which some understand, without 
capes or cloaks*^. And thus the great legate at last 
was really reconciled imto them. 

21. The mention of the house of the bishop ofBishops'an- 
Carlisle minds me how, anciently, every bishop (as J^^i^,^*^. 
all principal abbots) had a house belonging to their 
see (commonly called their inn) for them to lodge in 
when their occasions summoned them to London. 
Not to mention those which still retain their names, 
as Winchester, Durham, Ely, &c. We will only 
observe such which are swallowed up into other 
houses, conceiving it charitable to rescue their 
memory from oblivion. 



House. 


Place. 


BvUi by 


Turned into 


Salisbury, 
St. David's, 

Chichester, 

Exeter, 

Bath and Wells, 
Uandaff, 
Worcester, 
Lichfield and 
Coventry, 
Carlisle, 
Norwich, 
York, 

Hereford, 


Fleet-street, 
North of Bride- 
well, 

Chancery-lane, 

By Temple-bar, 

Strand, 
Strand, 
Strand, 

Strand, 

Strand, 
Strand, 
Westminster, 
OldFish^treet 
hill. 


Ralph Nevil, bp. 

of Chichester. 
Walter Stapleton, 

bp. of Exeter. 

Walter Lancton, 
bp. of Chester. 

Ralph de Mayden- 
stOQ, bp. of Ueref . 


Dorset-house. 
Small tenements. 

Lincoln's Inn. 

Essex-house. 

Arundel-house. 
Somerset-house. 
Somerset-house. 

Somerset-house. 

Worcester .house. 
York-house. 
White-hall. 
A sugar-maker's 
house. 



o [Rather, without their hoods 
and gowns. In token that the 
university was dissolved; for 



immediately afterwards the le- 
gate restores the university to 
its privileges. Mat. Paris, 470.] 



176 



The Church HUtory 



BOOK III. 



A. D. 1238. I question whether the bishop of Rochester (whose 

'. — i country house at Bromley is so nigh) had ever a 

house in the city p. Let others recover the rest 
from oblivion ; a hard task, I believe, they are so 
drowned in private houses. O let us secure to our- 
selves everlasting habitations, seeing here no abiding 
mansion 4. 

22. Come we now to present the reader with an- 
other offer of the king's (I fear it was not much 
more) to repress papal oppression. 



A valiant 



A. D. 1 341. Rex dilecto sibi in Chrislo 
archidiacono Glouc, salutem. 
Significavimust et etiam viva 
voce exposuiTnus magistro P. 
Rubeot nuncio Domini papa, 



The king to his beloved in 
Christ the archdeacon of Glon- 
cester, greeting. We have signi- 
fied, and also hj word of month 
have declared to Mr. P. Rubens, 



u 

€€ 

it 
U 
€€ 
<( 
(% 
(« 
if 
1i 
<« 
t( 
t€ 

et 
(( 
if 
« 
(< 
<< 
(( 
cc 
(i 
<( 
(i 
r< 



P *' [There is no question but 
he had: Stow finding it in 
Southwark by the name of 
Rochester house^ adjoining 
on the south side to the bi- 
shop of Winchester's, ruinous 
and out of reparation in his 
time^ as possibly not much 
frequented since the building 
of Bromley house, and since 
converted into tenements for 

private persons." " But 

since our author hath desired 
others to recover the rest 
from oblivion, I shall help 
him to the knowledge of two 
more, and shall thank any 
man to find out the third. 
The first of these two is the 
bishop of Lincobi's house, 
situate near the old temple 
in Holborn, first built by 
Robert de Chesney, bishop 
of Lincoln a. 1147, since 
aliened from the see to the 
earls of Southampton, and 



" passing by the name of 
*^ Southampton house. The 
*' second is the bishop of Ban- 
*' gor'Sf a fair house in Shoe- 
" lane near St. Andrew's 
** church, of late time leased 
" out by the bishops, and not 
** long since the dwelling 
*' of doctor Smith, doctor in 
'* physic, a right honest and 
** ingenious person, and my 
" very good friend. Of all the 
** old bishops' [houses which] 
'* were founded before king 
** Harry the Eight, there is 
" none whose house we have 
*^ not found but the bishop of 
" Asaph ; to the finding where- 
" of, if our author, or any 
" other will hold forth the 
" candle, I shall follow the 
'• light the best I can, and be 
** thankful for it." Heylyn in 
the Appeal, &c. p. 31.3 
<i Luke xvi. 9. 



C£KT. XIII. 



of Britain, 



177 



^uod non est intentionis no- 
stra, nee etiam volumus ali' 
quatenus sustinere, quod vel 
vivos religiosos vel clericum 
aliquem ad contributionem 
Jhciendam ad opus Domini 
paptB compellant, Et ideo 
vobis mandamvs inkibentes 
districte, ne ad mandatum 
iprins magistri Petri vel su- 
aruniy viros religiosos seu 
clericos ad contributionem 
pnsdictamjaciendam aliqua 
censura ecclesiastica compeU 
laiis. Scituri quod si secus 
egeritis, nos contra vos tan- 
quam perturbatorem pacts 
ecclesiastica, quam conser- 
vare tenemur, modis quibus 
expedire viderimus, proce- 
demus. Teste rege apud 
Ghuc, 1 1 . die JuniiJ 



nuncio to the lord the pope» that A. D. 1241. 
it is not our intention^ nor will ^SMe^-J^I' 
we any ways endure it, that they 
shall compel religious men, or any 
clerk^ to make a contribution to 
supply the occasions of the lord 
the pope. And therefore we 
command you» strictly forbidding^ 
that at the command of the said 
Mr. Peter, or any of his officers, 
you compel not any religious men, 
or clerks, by any ecclesiastical 
censures to make the aforesaid 
contribution. Knowing that if 
you do otherwise, we shall pro- 
ceed against you by means we 
shall think fit, as against the dis- 
turber of the peace of the church, 
which we are bound to preserve. 
Witness the king at Gloucester, 
the nth of June. 



By the way, a nuncio differed from a legate, 
almost as a lieger from an extraordinary ambas- 
sador ; who though not so ample in his power, was 
as active in his progging, to advance the profit of 
the pope his master. 

- 23. This instrument acquainteth us with the a free- 
method used by him in managing his money matters. ^"^ ^ ^' 
Such as reftised to pay his demands were proceeded 
agamst by church censures, suspension, excommuni- 
cation, &c. The cunning Italian (to decline the 
odium) employing the archdeacons to denoimce the 
same in their respective jurisdictions. Yet this went 
under the notion of a voluntary contribution, as free 



' Pat. 25 of Henry III. mem. 6. [Collated with the original.] 

FULLER, VOL. II. N 



178 The Church History book iif. 

AD. 1241. as fire from flint, forced with steel and strength out 

'^"^'"'- of it. 

Spoken like 24. Whercas the king counted himself bound to 
"**^* preserve the peace of the church, the words well 
became his mouth. They seem to me to look like 
DEFENDER OF THE FAirn as yet but in the bud, and 
Avhich in due time might grow up to amount to as 
much. For though every Christian in his calling 
must keep the peace of the church, kings have a 
coercive poAver over the disturbers thereof. 

Say and do, 25. Tliis royal resolution, to resist the oppressing 
of his subjects, was good as propounded, better if 
performed. I find no visible effect thereof: but we 
may believe, it made the pope's mill go the slower, 
though it did not AvhoUy hinder his grinding the 
faces of the clergy. This patent is dated from 
Gloucester, more loved of king Henry than London 
itself, as a strong and loyal city, where he was first 
crowned, and afterwards did often reside. 

A pension 26. Amougst the thousands of poimds which the 

given by tbe . n-niTT 1 •ii 

pope to an popo camod out of England, I meet only with three 
e^f hundred marks yearly, which came back again as a 
private boon, bestowed on an English knight, sir 
Reginald Mohun*, by pope Innocent the Fourth, 
then keeping his court at Lyons in France. And 
because these are vestigia sola retrorsum^ it will not 
be amiss to insert the whole story thereof as it is in 
an ancient French manuscript pertaining to the 
family of the Mohuns. 

'^ Quant sire Reinalda voit ceo fi^iitz, il passa a la 
" court de Rome que adonques fuist a Lions, pur 



9 [This Reginald de Mohun ham in the manor of Axmin- 
founded the abbey of Newen- ster. Monast. I. 928.] 



/ 



CSKT. XIII. of Britain. 179 

" confinner et ratifer sa novelle abbay a grand honor a.d. H41. 

" de liu a touz joues, et fiiist en la courte le deni- . '• — '• 

" ergne en quaresme, quant lenchaunce loffice del 
messe LcBtare Jerusalem^ al queun jour lusage de la 
court este que lapostoille doa a plus valiant et a 
** plus honorable home qui puit estre trovez en la 
** deste courte une rose ou une floretta de fin or. 
" Donquez ilz sercherent tote la courte, entroverent 
** cesti Beinald pur le plus noble de toute la courte 
" a qui le pape Innocent donna celle rose ou florette 
" dor et la papa lui dainanda quil home il fiiist en 
** son pais. II respondi simple bachelerie. Beau fitz/ 
" fetz la pape, ' celle rose ou florette unquez ne fuist 
" donez fors au rois ou au dukes ou a countese ; pour 
" ceo nous voluns que vous sons le counte de Est," 
" ceo est Somerset. Reinald respondi et aist 'OSaincte 
" Piere ieo nay dont le nom meinteyner.' Lapos- 
** stoille donques lui dona ducent marcz per annum 
" receiver sur cantre saint Paule de Londres de ces 
" denieres d'Engleterre pour son honor mainteyner ; 
" de queu donna il reporta buUes que enquore aurent 
" en plombs, &c. en semblement odue moltes dis 
" aultres bulles de confirmatione de sa novelle abbay 
" de Newham apres queu jour il porta la rose ou 
" florette en les armes*." 

- It is as needless as difficult to translate this bull 
verbatim, being of base, obsolete, and ill-pointed 
French ; suffieeth it, thafc; this iiSi the sum thereof. 
The pope used on the' lord's day, called Lcetare 
, .*#«** 

^ [This passage was most telligible throughout. 1 have 

wretchedly printed in th^ pre- corrected it from conjecture, 

vious edition; having been tran- not having been able to dis- 

scribed by some very ignorant cover the original.] 
person, so as to be almost unin- 

N 2 



180 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. i74t. Jerusalem 9 solemnly to bestow a consecrated rose on . 

!i_^! .the most honourable persons present at mass with 

his holiness. Inquiry being made, the rose was 
conferred on sir Reginald Mohun, as the best ex- 
tracted in the present congregation. 

But seeing that rose used always to be given to 
kings, dukes, and earls at least, (the lowest form of 
coroneted nobility in that age,) his holiness under- 
standing the same sir Reginald to be but a plain 
knight bachelor, created him the earl of Est, that is, 
saith this bull, of Somerset ; and for the better sup- 
port of his honour he allowed him three hundred* 
marks out of the pence of England, (imderstand the 
Peter-pence,) as the most certain papal revenue in 
the land. 

By this bull the same sir Reinald was made a 

count apostolic, whereby he had the privileges to 

appoint public notaries, and to legitimate bastards 

on some conditions. King Henry the Third was so 

far from excepting against this act, that he highly 

honoured him. And yet master Camden sometimes 

acknowledgeth^, sometimes denieth^ him for an 

English earl. Not that I accuse him as inconstant 

to himself, but suspect myself not well attaining his 

meaning therein. 

There are 27. Now though the Said sir Reginald did mo- 

m^ethem- destly decliuc the pope's honour for want of main- 

seives poor, teuancc, yct had he at that time no fewer than 

forty-three knights' fees held of his castle of Dunstar^ 

I have nothing else to add herein, save that the 

^ [Rather two hundred.] ^ In his Elizabeth in the 

^ In his Brit, in Somerset- case of count Arundel, [a. 
shire, [p. 1 6 1.] '5960 



CENT. XIII. 



of Britain. 



181 



ancient arms of tLe Mohuns, viz. a hand in a maunch a.d. 1341. 
holding a fleur-de-lis, (in that age more fashionable — — — ' 
than a rose in heraldry,) seems to relate to this 
occasion ; which their family afterward changed into 
a sable cross, in the achievements in the Holy Land, 
borne at this day by the truly honourable the lord 
Mohun, baron of Oakhampton, as descended from 
this family* 

28. This year died Robert Grouthead, bishop ofAD. 1253. 
Lincoln, bom at Stradbrook in Suffolk, natalibtis oi\Mio^ 
jmdendis saith my author^ of shameftd extraction, ^"^ ^^' 
intimating suspicion of bastardy: though the pa- 
rents, rather than the child, have caused a blush 
thereat. He got his surname from the greatness of 
his head, having large stowage to receive, and store of 
brains to fill it : bred for a time in Oxford, then in 



* Godwin [de Praesulibus 
Ang. p. 289. Godwin's 
words are, '* natalibus ob- 
'• scuris ne dicam pudendis." 

It is questionable whether 

Fuller's interpretation of these 
words be correct. None of 
the chroniclers at all events 
fasten this imputation upon 
Grostete, although they all 
follow Trivet in describing 
him as sprung ** ima de gente,*' 
p. 204. Godwin brings for- 
ward no testimony in corrobo- 
ration of his assertion : and it 
is positively denied by CoUyer 
in his Eccl. Hist. vol. I. p. 462, 
upon the authority of arch- 
bishop Parker, in his Antiq. 
Brit. p. 168, *' who reports 
'* him honourably descended, 
" and appeals to a pedigree 
•*for proof." The bishop's 
real name, says Dr. Gale in a 
note to Godwin, p. 289, was 



Copley, and he was descended 
from a noble and ancient fa- 
mily of that name in York- 
shire. There is a tolerably cor- 
rect and pleasing life of him 
written in verse by a monk 
called Richard of Bardney, in 
Wharton's Ang. Sac. vol. II. 
p. 326, which appears to have 
been composed from traditions 
of him current in Lincolnshire 
at that time ; and its veracity 
is supported by our best chro- 
niclers. See also Trivet, p. 201, 
and the Chron. de Lanercost, 
an. 1253. A full and correct 
account of him will be found in 
Pegge'sLife of Grostete. More 
succinct information will be 
found in Cave's Hist. Litt. 
Oudinus de Script. Eccles., and 
in Wood's Annals, I. 198. His 
Opuscula and several of his let- 
ters are in the second volume 
of Brown's Fasciculus.] 

N 3 



ISSt The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1253. France : a great and general scholar, (Bale Feckonmg 
^^ — '■ up no fewer than two hundred books of his making,) 
and a great opposer of the pope's oppression, which 
now grew intolerable. 
The pope's 29- For it appeared by inquisition made the last 
ogsdnrt this year, that the ecclesiastical revenues of Italians in 
£J^***' England (Avhereof many were boys, more block- 
heads, all aliens) amounted per annum unto three- 
score and ten thousand marks : whereas the king's 
income at the same time was hardly twenty thou- 
sands^. Gishop Grouthead offended thereat, wrote 
pope Innocent the Fourth such a juniper letter, 
taxing him with extortion, and other vicious prac- 
tices, that his holiness brake out into this ex- 
pression; "What meaneth this doating old man, 
" surdus et absurdus^ thus boldly to control our 
" actions ? By Peter and Paul, did not our innate 
" ingenuity restrain us, I would confound him, and 
" make him a prodigy to the w^hole world. Is not 
" the king of England our vassal, yea our slave, to 
" imprison and destroy what persons we please to 
" appoint?" 
quendied 30. The pope being in this pelt, iEgidius a Spanish 
msh c^' cardinal thus interposed his gravity. " It is not ex- 
" pedient, my lord, to use any harshness to this 
" bishop. We must confess the truths which he 
" saith. He is a holy man, of a more religious life 
" than any of us, yea Christendom hath not his 
" equal ; a great philosopher, skilled in Latin and 
" Greek, a constant reader in the schools, preacher 



y Matthew Paris, p. 874. paring with them the Aiinales 
[See particularly the Foedera, Burton, p. 309, and Mat. Pa- 
I. 263, 281, 350, 393, com- ris, p. 700.] 



dinaL 



CENT. XI 1 1 . of Britain . 1 8S 

**in the pulpit, lover of chastity, and loather ofA. 0.1153. 
" Simony. — 

31 . Thus the pope took wit in his anger, and Orouthead 
Grouthead escaped for the present : though Bale re- pie's, 
porteth that he died excommunicate and deprived of thr^pe"** 
his bishopric. Popish* authors confidently report a**^"^ 
strange vision, or rather a passion of pope Innocent 

the Fourth, whom Grouthead (appearing after his 
death) so beat with many blows, (it seems he had a 
heavy hand as well as a great head,) that the pope 
died thereof soon after. No wonder therefore if his 
successors would not canonize this Robert, who not- 
withstanding was a saint, though not in the pope's, 
yet in the people's calendar, many miracles being 
ascribed unto him ; and particularly, that a sweet oil 
after his death issued out of his monument^: which 
if false in the literal, may be true in a mystical 
meaning, Solomon observing, that a good name is as 
ointment poured out. 

32. England began now to surfeit of more than Discontent* 
thirty years' peace and plenty, which produced no^iLnd. 
better effects than ingratitude to God, and murmur- 
ing at their king. Many active spirits, whose minds 

were above their means, offended that others beneath 
them (as they thought) in merit, were above them 
in employment, cavilled at many errors in the king's 
government, being state Donatists, maintaining the 
perfection of a commonwealth might, and ought to 
be attained. A thing easy in the theory, impossible 
in the practice, to conform the actions of men's cor- 



* John Burie. [MS. ibid.] Mr. Fabian's [Chron. part vii. 
Mat. Paris, [p. 883.] Mat. f. 25. first edition.] 
Westminster, [in a. 1254.] ^ Godwin, [ib. p. 291.] 

N 4 



184 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. i354.rupted natures to the exact ideas in men's ima- 

38Uen.11 1. . ^. 
il ginations. 

Grounded 33. Indeed they had too much matter whereon 
occasioii. justly to grouud their discontents: partly because 
the king (distrusting his natives) employed so many 
French foreigners in places of power and profit; 
partly because he had used such indirect courses to 
recruit his treasuries, especially by annihilating all 
patents granted in his minority, (though indeed he 
was never more in his fiiU age than when in his non- 
age, as guided then by the best counsel,) and forcing 
his subjects to take out new ones on what terms his 
officers pleased. In a Avord, an author*^ then living 
complaineth, "that justice was committed to men 
" unjust, the laws to such who themselves were out- 
** laws, and the keeping of the peace to injurious 
" people delighting in discords." 
A title 34. After many contests betwixt the king and his 

power only subjocts, (which the reader may learn from the his- 
king? * * torians of the state,) four and twenty prime persons 
were chosen by parliament to have the supreme in- 
spection of the land: which soon after (to make 
them the more cordial) passed a decoction, and were 
reduced to three, and they three in effect contracted 
to one, Simon Mountfort, earl of Leicester, the 
king's brother-in-law : the king himself standing by 
as a cipher, yet signifying as much as his ambitious 
subjects did desire. These, to make sure work, 
bound him with his solemn oath to submit himself 
to their new-modelled government. 
The pope 35. Here the pope (charitable to relieve all dis- 
his cour- trcsscd priuccs) intcrposcd his power, absolving the 

^ Roger Wendover, [in Mat. Paris.] 



CENT. XIII. of Britain, 186 

king from that oath, as unreasonable in itself, andA.D. 1J54. 
forced upon him. His holiness was well paid for??5!Ili!i 
this great favour; the king hereafter conniving at^^]" 
his horse-leeches (legates and nuncios) sucking the 
blood of his subjects with intolerable taxations. 
Thus was it not altogether the flexibility of king 
Henry, but partly the flexion of his condition, (I 
mean the altering of his occasions,) which made him 
sometimes withstand, and otherwhiles comply with 
the pope's extortion. Thus always the pope's cour- 
tesies are very dear ; and the storm itself is a better 
shelter than the bramble, fleecing such sheep as fly 
under the shade thereof**. 

36. Meantime the king, having neither coin nor sad case 
credit, having pawned his jewels, mortgaged all his roya?rool is 
land in France, and sold much of it in England, "^^^*®'" 
wanting wherewithal to subsist, lived on abbeys and ^"cke''- 
priories ; till his often coming and long staying there 

made what was welcome at the first quickly to be- 
come wearisome. Though a royal guest, with often 
coming his royalty made not his guestship the more 
accepted, but the notion of a guest rendered his 
royalty the less to be esteemed. Indeed his visits of 
abbeys at first did wear the countenance of devotion, 
(on which account this king was very eminent,) but 
afterwards they appeared in their own likeness, the 
dimmest eye seeing them to proceed from pure 
necessity. 

37. Soon after began the civil wars in England, No part of 

church- 

d [The pope sent a legate a sentence of excommunication work. 

latere in 1261 to absolve the against those who were in re- 

king and his adherents from bellion against the king. Chron. 

the oath taken by them at de Lanercost. in this year.] 
Oxford^ and to fulminate the 



186 The Church Uuiary book m. 

A.D. 1154. with Tarious success, sometimes the king, and some* 

i times the barons getting the better ; tiU at hist an 

indifferent peace was concluded for their mutual 
good, as in the historians of the commonwealth doth 
plentifully appear. 
IJ^ by 88. The latter part of the reign of king Heniy 
was not only eminent in itself, but might be exem- 
plary to others. He reformed first his own natural 
errors, then the disorders in his court, the expense 
whereof he measured by the just rule of his proper 
revenue. The rigour and corruption of his judges he 
examined, and redressed by strict conmiission, filled 
the seats of judgment and counsel with men nobly 
bom, sat himself daily in council, and disposed afiairs 
of most weight in his own person. 
charta 89. And now the charta magna was very strictly 

ftiUy prao- obscrvcd, being made in the ninth year of this king's 
reign, but the practice thereof much interrupted and 
disturbed with civil wars, it is beheld by all judicious 
men as (like the aurea buUa^ or golden bull of Ger- 
many) the life of English liberty, rescued by the 
blood and valour of our ancestors from tyrannical 
encroachment, giving the due bounds to prerogative 
and propriety, that neither should mutually intrench 
on the other's lawful privileges. And although some 
high royalists look on it as the product of subjects' 
animosities, improving themselves on their prince's 
extremities, yet most certain it is, those kings flou- 
rished the most both at home and abroad, who tied 
themselves most conscientiously to the observation 
thereof. 
BaUioi col- 40. Two coUegcs in Oxford were founded in the 
JfvabilliL reign of this king One, Balliol college, by John 



•»rince. 



CSKT. XIII. 



of Britain. 



187 



Balliol (and Dervorguill his lady)^ of Beniard*8A.D.i262. 
castle in the bishopric of Durham, banished into^^ — — — '. 
Elngland, and father of Balliol king of Scotland <^. 
Wonder not that an exile should build a college, 
charity being oftentimes most active in the afflicted, 
willingly giving to others a little of that little they 
have : witness the Macedonians, whose deep poverty 
abounded to tlie riches of their liberality^. 

41. True it is, the ancient revenues of this college Great re- 
were not great, allowing but «f eight pence a week that^^!*'^ 
for every scholar therein of his foundation, (whereas 
Merton college had twelve pence,) and yet, as one 
casteth up^ their ancient revenues amounted imto 
ninety-nine pounds seventeen shillings and ten 
pence ; which in that age, I will assure you, was a 
considerable sum, enough to make us suspect that at 

this day they enjoy not all the original lands of their 
foundation. 

42. Indeed, I am informed that the aforesaid king Endowed 
Balliol bestowed a large proportion of land in Scot- ^d San 
land on this his father's foundation. The master ^°J^^p^- 
and fellows whereof petitioned king James (when 

the marches of two kingdoms were newly made the 
middle of one monarchy) for the restitution of those 
lands detained from them in the civil wars betwixt 



^^ [There is an epitaph upon 
this Dervorvilla de Balliol, but 
in wretched doggrel/ in the 
Chron. de Lanercost> an. t 289.] 
e [According to Wood not 
founded till after Merton and 
University. '* What was done 
in order to it by sir John 
Balliol^ knight, while he was 
living, was an. 1268 or 1267 
" at leasts and then no more 
" but to exhibit to certain poor 



« 



« 



« 



« 



s< 



'* scholars of Oxford, till such 
time he could conveniently 
procure an habitation for, 

" and settle lands on, the scho- 

*' lars thereof.'* Hist, of Univ. 

&c. p. 70.] 

^ 2 Cor. viii. 2. 

s Roger Walden, in his His- 

tory, [quoted by Twyne.] 
h Bri. Twyne, Antiq. Acad. 

Oxon. in Appendice. 



188 The Church History • book hi. 

A.D. 1163. the two crowns. The kinir. though an affectionate 
^ — ^ — .'lover of learning, would not have his bounty in- 
jurious to any (save sometimes to himself); and 
considering those lands they desired were long 
peaceably possessed with divers owners, gave them 
notice to surcease their suit. Thus not king James, 
but the infeasibility of the thing they petitioned for 
to be done with justice, gave the denial to their 
petition. 
Hus lu. 43. Being to present the reader with the cata- 
quett to the logues of this and other worthy foundations in Ox- 
Oxford."^ ford, I am sorry that I can only build bare walls, 
(erect empty columns,) and not fill them with any 
furniture : which tlie ingenuous reader, I trust, will 
pardon, when he considers, first, that I am no Oxford 
man ; secondly, that Oxford is not that Oxford 
wherewith ten years since I was acquainted^. Where- 
fore I humbly request the antiquaries of their re- 
spective foundations (best skilled in their own worthy 
natives) to insert their own observations ; which if 
they would return unto me against the next edition 
of this work, if I live, and it be thought worthy 
thereof, God shall have the glory, they the public 
thanks, and the world the benefit of their contri- 
bution to my endeavours. 
Four neces- 44. The Catalogue of masters we have taken with 
^lised.^ an implicit faith out of Mr. Brian Twyne (who may 
be presumed knowing in that subject) until the year 
I6O8, where his work doth determine : since which 
time we have supplied them as well as we may, 
though too often at a loss for their Christian names. 
If Mr. Twyne his register be imperfect, yet he writes 
right who writes wrong, if follo\^dng his copy. 

^ [When he took refuge there in the time of the civil wars.] 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 189 

45. The list of bishops hath been collected out of a.d. 1262. 
Francis Godwin, bishop of Hereford, whose judi-1 — — — ! 
cious pains are so beneficial to the English church, the bSXps 
Yet Godwintts non vidit omnia^ and many no doubt ^j^^" 
have been omitted by him. 

46. As for the roll of benefactors, I, who hope to whence 
have made the other catalogues true, hope I have^^"®" 
made this not true ; upon desire and confidence that 
they have more than I have, or can reckon up, 
though following herein I. Scot his printed tables, 

and the last edition of John Speed his chronicle. 

47. The column of learned writers I have endea- whence 
voured to extract out of Bale and Pitts. Whereof J^^"^ 
the latter being a member of this university, was no 

less diligent than able to advance the honour 
thereof. 

48. Let none suspect that I will enrich my mother no wiifui 
by robbing my aunt. For besides that Cambridge is Jl^f 
so conscientious, she will not be accessary to my 
felony by receiving stolen goods. 

Tro8^ Tyriusve mihi nulla discrimine hahetur : 
A Trojan whether he 
Or a Tyrian be, 
All is the same to me. 

It matters not whether of Cambridge or Oxford, so 
God hath the glory, the church and state the benefit 
of their learned endeavours. 

49. However, I am sensible of many defects, and Add and 
know that they may be supplied by the endeavours 

of others. Every man knows his own land better 
than either Ortelius or Mercator, though making 
the maps of the whole world. And the members of 
respective colleges must be more accurate in the 
particularities of their own foundations, than the 



190 



' The Church History 



BOOK in. 



A.D. i963.exacte8t historian who shall write a general de- 

46Hen.III. ... ., * 

scnption thereof. 



Matiert, 



I282.h Jo. Fodering- 
hay. 

1360. Jo. WidiHffe. 

1423. Rob. Burley. 

145 1. Rob Thwaites. 

1477. Rob. Abdy. 

1497. Ric. Berning- 
ham. 

15 18. Rich. Stubbes. 

1525. WUL WTiite. 

1539. Geo. Cootes. 

1545. Wm. Wright. 

1547. Ja. Brooks, [af- 
terwards bi- 
shop of Glou- 
cester.] 

1559. Fran. Babing- 

ton. 

1560. Anth. Garnet. 
1563. Rob. Hooper. 

1570. Jo. Piers. 

1571. Adam Squier. 
1580. Edm. Lylly. 
1609. Rob. Abbot 
1616. Dr. Parkhurst 
1637. Dr. Laurence. 
1650. Dr. Savage. 



Bishops, 



Roger Whelpdale, 
fellow, bishop of 
Carlisle. 

Geor . Ne vill, chan- 
oellor oftheuni- 
Tersityattwenty 
years of age, af- 
terwards furhbi- 
shop of York, 
and chancellor of 
£ngland. 

WilL Gray, bish<^ 
of Ely. 

Jo. Bell, bishop of 
Worcester. 

[Geo. Cootes, bi- 
shop of Chester.] 

Job. Piers, archbi- 
shop of York. 

Rob. Abbot, bi- 
shop of Salis- 
bury. 

Qeo. Abbot, fel- 
low, archbishop 
of Canterbury. 



Benefactors. 



Philip Somervile, 

and Marg. his 

wife. 
Ella de Long-Spee, 

countess of Sa- 
lisbury. 
Rich, de Humsni- 

gore. 
L. Win. Fenton. 
Hugh de Vienna, 

knight. 
John Bell, bishop 

of Worcester. 
Wil. Hammond, 

of Gilford, esq. 
Peter Blundell, of 

Tiverton. 
L. Eliz. Periam, 

of the county of 

Buck. 
Tho. Tisdale, of 

Glymton, com. 

Oxon, esq. 
Mary Dunch. 
John Brown. 



Learned writen. 



Jo. Duns SootBS, 
first of this, then 
of Merton col- 
lege. 

Humfrey duke of 
Gloucester, com- 
monly called the 
Good. 

WilL Walton, fel- 
low, cfaanoeOor 
of the univer- 
sity. 

Tho. Gaacoign, 
feDow, chancel- 
lor of the uni- 
versity. 

i John Tiptoft, 
earl of Wor- 
cester. 

Rob. Abbot 



That John Wickliffe here mentioned may be the 
great Wickliffe ; though others justly suspect him not 
the same, because too ancient, if this catalogue be 
complete, to be the fourth master of this house, 
except they were incredibly vivacious. Nothing else 
have I to observe of this foimdation, save that at 
this day therein are maintained one master, twelve 
fellows, thirteen scholars, four exhibitioners ; which, 
with servants, commoners, and other students, lately 
made up one hundred thirty and six. 



^ [The dates of the masters 
both here and below I have in- 
serted in the text from Wood.] 



^ See more of him in our 
dedication to the second book. 
Fuller. 



CEKT. XIII. 



of Britain. 



191 



50. Nor must we forget that (besides others) two a.d. 1262. 

eminent judges of our land were both contempo '- — i 

raries and students in this foundation ; the lord chief leaJ^*^ 
baron Davenport, and the lord Thomas Coventry, J"^*^* 
lord chancellor of England, (whose father also, a 
judge, was a student herein.) So that two great 
oracles, both of law and equity, had here their edu- 
cation. 

51. The other was university college: whereof lunivcrrity 
find different dates, aad the founding thereof ascribed founded. 
to several persons J. 



Founder. 


Time, 


Author. 


I. King Alfred. 


Anno 882. 


I. Universal tradition. 


2. William de Sto. Ca. 


1081, the 1 2th of king 


2. Stow in his Chroni- 


rilefoy bishop of Dur- 


William the Con- 


cle, p. 106 J, to whom 


ham. 


queror. 


Pitz consenteth. 


3. William, bishop of 


12 1 7, in the first of 


3. John Speed, in his 


Durham, though 


Henry III. 


History, p. 817. 


none at this timA of 






the name. 






4. William, archdeacon 


uncertain''. 


4. Camd. Brit, in Ox- 


of Durham, whom 


■ 


fordshire. 


others confidently call 






Walter. 







I dare interpose nothing in such great differences, 
only observe that master Camden (no less skilful a 
herald in ordering the antiquity of houses than mar- 
tialling the precedency of men) makes University 
the third in order after Merton college : which makes 
me believe the founding thereof not so ancient as 
here it is inserted^ 



J [See Wood's Hist, of CoL 
l^es, L 38, 39. Who were 
the founders seems very doubt- 
ful. The three Williams are 
probably one and the same 
person.] 



^ [Yet unquestionably a be- 
nefactor : he left three hundred 
and ten marks for supporting 
ten or twelve masters in the 
schools of Oxford.] 

1 [Ant. Wood places Uni- 



The Church Jihtory 




IHnsleri. 



>. Roger Clldwdlni. 
1416. Richard Wylton. 
14R8, M. RoketboroiiKh. 
iflOi). KBnul{ih Ilumslerle}'. 
1518. LHiDBrd Hiitchinioii. 
r546- John CmTord' 
IS47. Richard Salrabe. 
1551. George Elliion. 
t js;. Anthony Salvwoe. 
I J 58. James Dugdoln. 
1561. Thomat Key. 

I. WiUiam James. 

{. Aothony Ootei. 
1.S97- Oeorge Abbot. 
I Gog. Jobn Bancroft. 
1631. [Thumai) Walker. 
1648. [Joshua] Hoile- 
'CjS' [Frand> Johnaon.] 



Abbot, 
archbp. 
of CanU 

ahop of 
Olfori. 



Sir Simon BenneC, who hnth be- 
queathed good Isnda (afler the 
decease of hia ladv) to tacTeue 
the feUowB and sciiolaTB. 

Air. Charles Greenwood, samB- 
tiae fellow of this Follc^, and 
proctor to tJie univeraity, gave 
a thousand pounda to the 
building thereof- 



So that at this present are maintained therein one 
master, eight fellows, one Bible-clerk ; which wi 
servants, commoners, and other students, amount 
the number of threescore and nine. 

52. Sure it is, at this time Oxford flourished with 
multitude of students; King Henry conferring large 
favours upon them, and these among the rest. That 
no Jews living at Oxford should receive of scholars 
above two pence a week interest for the loan of 



versity college before JVIerton ; name of nine masters previous 

and ^together rejects tbe re- toWytton, as well as of other! 

port of king Alired being its subsequently omitted by Ful- 

founder. Hist, of Colleges, &c. ler. Ib.51.] 
p. 37.] ■> [Bishop of Durham. Wood, 

™ [Wood omits the name of ib. p. 46.] 
Caldwell ; and meDtions the 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 193 

twenty shillings, that is, eight shillings eight pence a. 0.1261. 
for the interest of a pound in the year^. Hereby we ^'- — ^ — •' 
may gaess how miserably poor people in other places 
were oppressed by the Jews, where no restraint did 
limit their usury ; so that the interest amounted to 
the half of the principal. 

58. Secondly, whereas it was complained of, that ^ second 
justice was obstructed, and malefactors protected by 
the citizens of Oxford, who being partial to their 
own corporation, connived at offenders who had done 
mischief to the scholars; the king ordered, that 
hereafter not only the citizens of Oxford, but also 
any officers in the vicinage should be employed in 
the apprehending of such who offered any wrong to 
the students in the university. 

54. Lastly, he enjoined the bailiffs of Oxford so- The third 
lemnly to acquaint the chancellor thereof, of those ^"^ 
times when bread and other victuals were weighed 

and prized. But in case the chancellor had timely 
notice thereof, and refused to be present thereat, 
then the bailiflfe notwithstanding his absence might 
proceed in the foresaid matters of weight and 
measure. 

55. We will conclude this section with this civil The sub- 
and himible submission of the dean and chapter of 2be d^n° 
St. Asaph, sent to the king in the vacancy (as it^j^^^f^P^^ 
seems) of their bishopric; though dislocated and^*»P^- 
some years set back in the date thereof 

De reoognitione Decani et Capit. de Sancto Asapho. 
** P Universis Christi fidelibus ad quos presens 

o Claus. 22. Hen. III. uiem. [Collated with the original in 
9. in dorso. the Tower.] 

P Pat. 33. Hen. III. mem. 3. 

FULLER, VOL. II. O 









194 7%e Church HiUoinf moo%. iii, 

A.D. ii63.*« scriptum pervenerit, deeanus et capitnlum de 

'- ** saiicto Asapho salutem in Domino. Consuetadiiti 

^ antiqne et dignitati quas Dominos Henricus il-' 
^ lustris rex Angl. et progenitores 8ui habaenint in 
ecclesia Anglicana, de petenda licentia eligendi 
vacantibns episcopatuum sedibus, et de requirendo 
aseensu regio post factam electionem, obviare no- 
lentes ; protestamur et recognoscimus, nos, quotiens 
^' ecclesia nostra pastore vacaverity ab illustri domino 
" rege Angl. et heredibus snis debere reverenter 
" petere licentiam eligendi, et post electionem fectam 
assensum eorum reqnirere. Et ne super hoc fii- 
turis temporibus dubitetur, presenti scripto sigilla 
" nostra fecimus apponi. Act. apud sanctum Asaph. 
" Anno Domini M®. cc.xlix^. in crastino exaltationis 
" sancta; crucis." 

The substance is this : That the dean and chapter 
promise to depend wholly on the king's pleasure in 
the choice of the next elect : so that now cathedrals 
began to learn good manners. Notwithstanding the 
pope usually obtruded whom he pleased upon them. 
Say not that St. Asaph was an inconsiderable cathe- 
dral, being at great distance and of small revenue, 
which might make them more officious to comply 
with the king: seeing the poorest ofttimes prove 
the proudest and peevishest to their superiors. But 
although this qualm of loyalty took this church for 
the present, we must confess that generally, chapters 
ask the king's leave, as widows do their fathers' to 
marry ; as a compliment not requisite thereunto : as 
conceiving it civility to ask, but no necessity to have 
his approbation. 
Edmond 56. Two eminent archbishops of Canterbury suc- 
oTuntarr ccssively filled that see during the most part of this 



CKHT. XI 1 1 . of Britain . 195 

king's reign. First, Edmond [of Abingdon], trea-A.D. 126a. 
purer of SaUsbury, bom, say some, in London, and"^""'''"' 
christened in the same font with Thomas Becket. 
My authorP makes him educated in University col- 
lege in Oxford, a great scholar, and lover of learned 
men. Reftising to consecrate Richard Wendover 
bishop of Rochester because of his want of suffi- 
ciency for such a function ; hereupon he incurred the 
displeasure of Otho the pope's legate siding with 
Wendover, (requiring no other qualification save 
money to make a bishop,) and was enforced to 
undertake a dangerous and expensive journey to 
Rome, to his great damage, and greater disgrace, 
being cast in his cause after the spending of a thou- 
sand marks therein. 

57. He took the boldness to tell the pope of his Sainted 
extortion ; though little thereby was amended, death. 
After his return he fell into the king's displeasure : 

so that overpowered with his adversaries, aad circum- 
vented with their malice, weary of his native country, 
(the miseries whereof he much bemoaned,) he went 
into volimtary banishment. He died and was buried 
in France: and six years after (which I assure you 
was very soon, and contrary to the modem custom) 
was sainted by pope Innocent the Fourth: whose 
body Lewis the Fourth king of France solemnly re- 
moved, and sumptuously enshrined. 

58. The other, Boniface by name^J, was only emi- Boniface 

A worthless 

nent on the accoimt of his high extraction, as imcle archbishop. 
to the queen, and son of Peter earl of Savoy ; a hor- 

P Godwin [De Praesul. An- elected 1 234, Trivet, p. 1 85, 

glise, p. 90. See his life also and died in 1 240.] 

in Parker's Antiq. Brit. p. 250. <1 [Elected 1 2 41, consecrated 

and a sketch of his character 1245. ^^^ Parker, ib. p. 263. 

in Trivet, p. 192. He was Godwin, p. 92.] 

O 2 



196 The Church History of Britain. book m. 

A.D. i36i.rible scraper of money, generally hated, insomuch 
' — Ithat he went his visitation, having a corriet on under 
his episcopal habit ; which it seems was no more than 
needs, the Londoners being so exasperated against him 
that they threatened his death, had not he secured 
himself by flight. Only he is memorable to posterity 
for pajring two and twenty thousuid marks' debt of 
his see (which his predecessors had contracted) for 
building a fair hall at Canterbury, and a stately 
hospital at Maidstone, which it seems was indicted 
and found guilty of, and executed for superstition at 
the dissolution of abbeys, (when it was valued at 
above a hundred and fifty pounds of yearly revenue,) 
being aliened now to other uses. 



SECT. III. 



TO 



WILLIAM ROBINSON 



OF 



THE INWARD TEMPLE, ESQ.* 

Sir Edward Coke was wont to say, that he never knew a 
divine meddle with a matter of law^ but that therein he 
committed some great error , and discovered gross ig^ 
norance. I presume you lawyers are better divines than 
we divines are lawyers ; because indeed greater your 
concernment in your precious souls y than ours in our 
poor estates. Having therefore just cause to suspect my 
own Judgment in this section^ wherein so much of law^ I 
submit all to your Judgment to add, alter ^ expunge at 



" [Arms; or^ a morion sa- 
ble^ studded argent and or. 
In the visitation of Herts by- 
sir Richard^ St. George Cla- 
rencieux^ 163 4, is the pedigree 
of the family of Robinson of 
Cheshunt bearing this coat, and 
signed by William Robinson 
then living. By it he appears 
to have been the son of Peter 
Robinson of London^ by his 
wife Anne, daughter of Thomas 



Marston, and to have married 
Elizabeth, daughter of Richard 
Burrell of London, by whom 
he had three sons, Peter, Wil- 
liam, and John^ and two daugh- 
ters^ Jane and Elizabeth, all 
living in T634. From the ear- 
lier part of the pedigree it 
appears that the family was a 
branch of one formerly settled 
at Little Bonld in the county 
of Westmoreland. B.] 

o3 




198 The CkuTch Hutoiy book in. 

fUature ; that j^ tny weak endeavours thaU appear 
worthjf of a second impresfion, they majf come Jbrth 
corrected with your emendations. 

] UIET king Henry the Third, our Eng- 
lish Nestor, {not for depth of brwns, 
but length of life,) as who reigned 
fifly-six years, in which term he buried 
all his contemporary princes in Chrie- 
tendom twice over. AH the months in a year may 
in a manner be carved out of an April day, hot, 
cold, dry, moist, fair, foul weather, being oft. pre- 
sented therein. Such the character of this king's 
life, certain only in uncertainty, sorrowful, succe^ 
fill,, in plenty, in penury, in wealth, in want, con- 
quered, conqueror. 
The im- 3. Yet the sun of his life did not set in a cloud, 
<leMh,mnd but Went down in full lustre; a good token that the 
^J^""^ next day would be feir, and his Bnceeesor prove for- 
'"•^- tunate. He died at St. Edmund's Buiy, and though 
a merciful prince ended his days in a necessary act 
of justice, severely punishing some citizens of Nor- 
wich for burning and pUlaging the priory therein*. 
His corpse was buried at Westminster church 
(founded and almost finished by him) with great 

'[In the jeax 1273 some advanced in j^ears. proceeded 
contention having arisen be- to Nonvicfa perBonally to take 
tween the monks and citizens cognizance of their offences, 
of Norwich, the latter were so Upon his return he fell sick at 
enraged as to set 6re to the St. Edmond's-bury, and died 
ancient and splendid cathedral in the 67th year of his age. 
of that city. Not content with See Mat. Paris, p. 1008, and 
this, they carried off the books. Trivet, p. 336, who is copied 
restmenU, and sacred vessels W Thoni. Walsingham, p. 43. 
which belonged to that cburcb. These authors give an interest- 
King Henry HI., justly in- ing description of the manners 
dignant at this outrage of the ana personal appearance of this 
ratizens, though now greatly king] 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 199 

solemnity, though prince Edward his son, as beyond a. a 1372. 
the seas, was not present thereat. — ^ — .* 

3. There cannot be a greater temptation to am-Theadvan- 
bition to usurp a crown, than when it findeth a absent 
vacancy on the throne, and the true heir thereof J^l^ 
absent at a great distance. Such an advantage at 

this instant had the adversaries of prince Edward 
(not as yet returned from Palestine) to put in, if so 
minded, for the kingdom of England. And strange 
it was, that no arrears of the former rebellion were 
left, but all the reckonings thereof so fully dis- 
charged, that no corrival did appear for the crown ; 
but a general concurrence of many things befriended 
prince Edward herein. 

i. His father on his deathbed secured his son's 
succession, as much as might be, by swearing the 
principal peers unto him in his absence. 

ii. The most active and dangerous military men 
the prince had politicly carried away with him into 
Palestine. 

iii. Prince Edward his fame (present here in the 
absence of his person) preserved the crown for him, 
as due to him, no less by desert than descent. 

The premises meeting with the love and loyalty 
of many English hearts, paved the way to prince Ed- 
ward his peaceable entrance without any opposition. 

4. King Edward was a most worthy prince, coming Hisachiev- 
oif with honour in all his achievements against Turk, llj^nst the 
and Pope, and Jews, and Scots, and against whom- '^"'^• 
soever he encountered^. For the Turks, he had 
lately made a voyage against them, which being 
largely related in our Holy war, we intend not here 

to repeat. Only I will add, that this foreign expe- 

^ [Trivet, I. p. 237.] 
o 4 



200 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. i272.(]ition was politicly undertakeiL to rid the land of 

lEdwardl. Y ^. ^ ^ . , 7 , 

many martiahsts, wherewith the late barons wars 

had made it to abomid. These spirits thus raised, 
though they could not presently be conjured down, 
were safely removed into another room. The fiercest 
mastiff dogs never fight one with another, whilst 
they have either bull or bear before them to bait ; 
the common foe employing that fiiry which other- 
wise would be active against those of their own 
kind. This diversion of the English soldiery gave a 
vent to their animosities which otherwise would 
have been mutually misspent amongst themselves. 
The pope's 5. Great at this present was the pope's power in 
^^in England, improving himself on the late tumultuous 
England, (jj^eg^ and the easiness of king Henry his nature, 
insomuch that within these last seven years ea? pleni- 
tudine (or rather, ea? ahundantia et superfluitate) pot- 
estatiSf he had put in two archbishops of Canterbury, 
Robert Kilwardeby, and John Pecham, against the 
minds of the monks, who had legally chosen others®. 
Probably the third time would have created a right 
to the pope, and his holiness hereafter prescribe it 
as his just due, had not king Edward seasonably pre- 
vented his encroachment, by moderating his power 
in England, as hereafter shall appear. Meantime 
we are called away on a welcome occasion, to behold 
a grateful object, namely, the foundation of one of 
the first and fairest colleges in Christendom. 
Merton col- 6. For in this year Walter de Merton, bishop of 
oSb^ Rochester, and chancellor of England, finished the 

founded. 

c [See Trivet, 235, and Par- stance a protestation was made 

ker, De Antiquitat. Britan. p. by the king's clerk, ne amsi- 

285 and 290. The first was milis electio trahatur in conse- 

appointed in 1272, the second quentiam, Godw. 96.] 

in 1278 : but in the first in- 



CENT. XIII. o/BHtam. 901 

college of his own name in Oxford •*. This Walter a. d. 1274. 

was bom at Merton in Surrey, and at Maldon ini ' 

that county had built a college, which on second 
thoughts (by God's counsel no doubt) he removed to 
Oxford, as it seems for the more security; now if 
the barons' wars, then (some fifteen years since) in 
height, and heat, were as it is probable, any motiye 
of this translation, it was one of the best effects 
which ever so bad a cause produced ; for otherwise, 
if not removed to Oxford, certainly this college had 
been swept away, as rubbish of superstition, at the 
dissolution of abbeys. 

7. Amongst the many manors which the first a manor 
founder bestowed on this college, one lay in the bridge 
parish of St. Peter's and west suburb of Cambridge, ^^ 
beyond the bridge, anciently called Pythagoras 
house, since Merton hall^. To this belongeth much 
good land thereabout, (as also the mills at Grant- 
chester mentioned in Chaucer,) those of Merton col- 
lege keeping yearly a court baron here. Afterwards 
king Henry the Sixth took away (for what default I 
find not) this manor from them, and bestowed it 
upon his own foundation of King's college in Cam- 
bridged But his successor, Edward the Fourth, re- 
stored it to Merton college again. It seemeth 
equally admirable to me, that holy king Henry the 
Sixth should do any wrong, or harsh Edward the 
Fourth do any right to the muses, which maketh me 
to suspect that there is more in the matter than 
what is generally known, or doth publicly appear. 

d [See Wood as before, p. 3. in Godwin, p. 531.] 
According to whom the first « Brian Twyne's Ant. Acad, 

foundation was A. D. 1264. Oxon. p. 319. 
See also his epitaph, written by ^ Caius Hist. Cant. Acad. 

sir H. Savile, printed at length p. 68. 



9M 



The Church Hutarjf 



BOOK in. 



A. D. 1274. 8. Sir Henry Savile, the most learned warden of 

i .'this college, three hundred and more years after 

monument Morton's death, plucked down his old tomb in 

''"""•'^' Rochester church, (near the north wall, almost over 

against the bishop's chair,) and built a neat new 

monument of touch and alabaster, whereon after a 

large inscription in prose, this epitaph was engraven. 

Magne senex titulis, musarum sede saorata 
Major, Mertonidum maxime progenie : 

Hsec tibi gratantes post saecula sera nepotes 
En votiva locant marmora, sancte parens. 

And indeed malice itself cannot deny that this col- 
lege (or little university rather) doth equal, if not 
exceed any one foundation in Christendom, for the 
famous men bred therein, as by the following cata- 
logue will appear. 



Wardens. 



Bishopt, 



Ben^aotort. 



Pet. Abyngdon, [or de 

Habendon.] 
ia86. Rich WarUys- 

don. 
1295. Jo. de la More. 
1390. J a. Wantinge. 
1338. Rob. Treiige. 
1357. Oiil. Durant. 
1375. Jo. Bloxham. 
1387. Jo. Wendover. 
1398. £d. Beckyng. 

ham. 

14 16. Tho. Rudbume. 

1417. Rob. Crylbert. 
1433. Hen. Abingdon. 
1438. Elias Holcot. 
1455. Hen. Sever. 
1471. Jo. Gygur. 
1482. Ric. Fitz- James. 
1507. Tho. Haq>er. 



Rob. Winchelsey, 
archbishop of 
Canterbury, 
anno 1294. 

Simon Mepham, 
archbishop of 
Canterbury, 
anno 1328. 

Simon Islip, arch- 
bishop of Can- 
terbury, anno 

1349- 

John Kemp, arch- 
bishop of Can- 
terbury, anno 
1452. 

Ralph de Baldock, 
bishop of Lon- 
don, anno 

1305- 



John Willgott, 
(bred in this col- 
lege,) D. D. and 
chancellor of 
Oxford, founded 
the Portionists*8r 
hall, and exhi- 
tions. 

Will. Readh (an 
excellent mathe- 
matician) built 
the library. 

Thomas Rud- 
bume, warden, 
built the tower 
over the gate. 

Richard Fitz- 
James, warden, 
built the war- 
den's lodgings. 



Learned toriters. 



Roger Bacon, a 
famous mathe- 
matician. 

John Dims Soo- 
tus. 

Walter Burley. 

William Ocham. 

Tho. Bradwar- 
dine, archbishop 
of Canterbury. 

John Oatisden. 

[Jo.] Dumbleton. 

Nichohis Oor- 
rham. 

William Gry- 
sant, father to 
Orimoald Ory- 
sant,popebythe 
name of Urban 
the Fifth. 



ST The same with postmasters. 

^ [Bishop of Chichester in 
1369: he gave, besides, a chest 
with 100/. in gold to be bor- 



rowed by the fellows for their 
relief, upon a bond given. See 
Godwin, 507.] 



of Britain. 



208 



M. 



iwlms. 

hilips. 

nber. 

ndaL 

lynolds. 

vy». 

I. 

ckley. 

vile. 

fathanid 

IdArd. 



Bithopt. 



Benrfaeton. 



Henry Gower, bi- 
thop of St. Da- 
vid% anno 1 328. 

WilUam Read, bi- 
shop of Chicheii- 
ter, anno 1369. 

Robert Gilbert, 
bishop of Lon- 
don, anno 1436. 

Thomas Rud- 
bume, bishop of 
St.David's,anno 

Mas- 
John Chadworth, 

bishop of Lin- 
coln, anno 1452.* 

John Marshall, bi- 
shop of Landaff, 
anno 14.78. 

Rich. Fitz-James, 
bishop of Lon- 
don, anno 1506. 

William Sever, 
bishop of Dur- 
ham, anno 1502. 

Richard Rawlins, 
bishop ofSt. Da- 
vid^ anno 1 523. 

John Parkhurst, 
bishop of Nor- 
wich,annoi56o. 

Thomas Bickley, 
bishop of Chi- 
chester, anno 

1584. 
George Carleton, 
bishop of Chi- 
chester, anno 
1619.1^ 



Leamsd wriiert. 



Henry Abingdon, 
warden, gave 
bells to the 
church. 

Richard Rawlins, 
wainscoated the 
inside, and co- 
vered the roof 
thereof withlead. 

Thomas Leach.1 

Sir Tho. Bodky. 

Dr. Wilson. 

Mr. John Cham- 
ber, sometime 
fellow of £a- 
ton.m 

Dr. [ Jac.] Jervys. 
Dr. Jesop, 

[M. D.]m 
Sir Hen. Savil. 



Roger Suiset. 
John Widifie. 

Henry Cuff, an 
able schdar, but 
unfortunate. 

Sir Tho. Bodley, 
who built Ox- 
ford library. 

Sir Henry Savile. 

Sir Isaac Wake, 
university ora- 
tor, and ambas- 
sador to Venice. 

Henry Mason, 
who worthily 
wrote De Mm- 
isterio Angli- 
cano. 

John Graves, an 
excellent mathe- 
matician. 

Dr. Peter Turner, 
active in com- 
posing the new 
statutes of the 
university. 



A. D. 1274. 
3 Edward L 



posely omit such as still (and may they long) The Kving 
whereof some (as Dr. Edward Reynolds, Dr.PJ^^ 
Sari, Dr. Francis Cheynell, Mr. Doughty, 
tmeis Rous, &c.) have already given the 
. testimony of their great learning and endow- 



was provost also of 
oUege in Cambridge, 
ty-four in all, to the 
I , according to Wood.] 
ed, by Wood, James 
iometime fellow. He 



gave 200 volumes to the li- 
brary, and 200/. to buy land 
in Cheshire for fellows from 
that county, about the year 

1SB9.] 
™ [Both formerly fellows.] 



204 The Church Hisimy book hi. 

A.D. i274.ineot8. Others may in due time, as Dr. Higgs, late 
3 Edward r ^^^ ^^ Lichfield, Dr. Corbet, &c. And sorely Mr. 

John Hales i^, formerly Greek professor, will not en^ 
Christian mankind his treasury of learning; nor can 
conceive, that only a sermon (owned under his 
name) can satisfy the just expectation from him of 
the church and commonwealth. 
The on- There is a by-foundation of postmasters in this 
^Ist- house, (a kind of college in the college,) and this 
"■***^ tradition goeth of their original. Anciently there 
was over against Merton college a small unendowed 
hall, whose scholars had so run in arrears, that their 
opposite neighbours out of cliarity took them into 
their college (then but nine in number) to wait on 
the fellows. But since they are freed fit)m any 
attendance, and endowed with plentiful maintenance, 
Mr. Willet being the first benefactor unto them in 
that nature, whose good example hath provoked 
many to follow his liberality. These most justly 
conceive themselves much honoured, in that bishop 
Jewel was a postmaster before removed hence to be 
fellow of Corpus Christi college. We take our fare- 
well of this house, when we have told it consisted 
lately (viz. 1635.) of one warden, twenty-one fellows, 
fourteen scholars ^ besides oflScers and servants of 
the foundation, with other students, the whole 
/ number being eighty. 

the church 9. Como WO uow to the king's retrenching the 

up the com- pope's power, grown so exorbitant in England. A 

monweaith. principal part whereof consisted in the multitude of 

monasteries, daily increasing in wealth, and all at 

the pope's absolute devotion. If posterity had con- 

•nQThe ever-memorable John and Wood's Athen. ii. p. 199.] 
Hales of Eaton. See Walker's ^ The same I conceive with 
Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 93, the postmasters. [Certainly.] 



CENT. XIII. of Britain, SOS 

tmued at this rate to build and endow religious a.d. 1375. 

houses, all England would in short time have turned 1 '. 

one entire and continued monastery; and the in- 
habitants thereof become either friars or founders. 
Where then should be any soldiers to fight the 
king's battles ? seamen to steer his ships ? husband- 
men to plough the king's land ? or rather any land 
of his to be ploughed by husbandmen ? 

10. Besides, though these friars had a living hand, The mis. 
to take and receive from any, they had mortmain, a mortmain 
dead hand, to restore and return any profit to the^^® 
king again. Yea, such alienation of lands in mort- 
main, settled on monasteries, (which as corporations 
neither married nor died,) affoided neither wards, 
marriages, relieft, nor knight's-service, for the de- 
fence of the realm ; in a word, enriched their private 
coffers, impoverished the public exchequer. It was 

not therefore such a dead hand which could feed so 
many living mouths as the king for his state and 
safety must maintain. Wherefore for the future he 
restrained such unlimited donatives to religious 
houses. 

11. Ignorance makes many men mistake mere This law 
tranflcripts for originals. So here, the shortsighted ^tT;^!'"' 
vulgar sort beheld the king's act herein as new, 
strange, and imprecedented, whereas indeed former 

times and foreign princes had done the like on the 
same occasion. First, we find some countenance for 
it in scripture P, when Moses by proclamation bounded 
the overflowing bounty of the people to the taber- 
nacle. And in the primitive times Theodosius the 
^nperor (although most loving and favourable to the 
clergy) made a law of a mortisation, or mortmain, to 
moderate people's bounty to the church. Yet a 

P Exod. xxxvi. 6. 



206 The Church Hutcry book hi. 

A.D. 1275 great father, Jerome by name, much disliked this 

' act, as appears by his complaint to NepotianP of that 

law : ^^ I am ashamed to say it, the priests of idols, 
'* stage-players, coachmen, and conmion harlots, are 
^* made capable of inheritance, and receive l^acies, 
^^ only ministers of the gospel, and monks are barred 
" by law thus to do ; and that not by persecutors, 
" but by Christian princes," But that passionate 
father comes ofiF well at last ; ** Neither do I com- 
^ plain of the law, but I am sorry we have deserved 
** to have such a law made against us." 
Ambrow 12. St. Ambroso^ likewise expresseth much anger 
moitmain. ou the Same occasion, out of his general zeal for the 
church's good. But, had the aforesaid fathers (men 
rather pious than politic ; good churchmen, no states- 
men) seen the monasteries swollen in revenues from 
an inch in their days to an ell (by people's fondness, 
yea dotage, on the four sorts of fiiars) in king Ed- 
ward's reign, they would, no doubt, instead of re- 
proving, have conunended his and the neighbouring 
king's care for their commonwealths. 
The statute 13. For the like laws for limiting men's liberality 
nM^^. were lately made in Spain and France, and now at 
last followed by king Edward, according to the tenor 
ensuing : 

" Where of late it was provided, that religious 
" men should not enter into the fees of any without 
" license and will of the chief lord of whom such 
" fees be holden immediately : and notwithstanding 
" such religious men have entered as well into their 
« own fees, as into the fees of other men. approprying 
" and buying them, and sometime receiving them of 

P [S. Hieronyni. Opera, iv. p. 260. ed. Ben.] 
q In his 31st Epist. 



« 






c£NT«xiii. of Britain. 207 

" the gift of others, whereby the services that are a.d. 1^79. 

** due of such fees, and which at the beginning were \ : 

" provided for defence of the realm, are wrongfully 
** vtdthdrawn, and the chief lords do leese their 
*• eschetes of the same ; we therefore to the profit of 
our realm intending to provide convenient remedy, 
by the advice of our prelates, earls, barons, and 
other our subjects, being of our council, have pro- 
vided, made, and ordained, That no person, religious 
or other, whatsoever he be, that will buy or sell 
any lands or tenements, or under the colour of 
gift or lease, or that will receive by reason of any 
" other title, whatsoever it be, lands or tenements, 
or by any other craft or engine will presume to 
appjpopre to himself, under pain of forfeiture of 
the same, whereby such lands or tenements may 
" any wise come into mortmain. We have provided 
" also, that if any person, religious or other, do pre- 
" sume either by craft or engine, to offend against 
" this statute ; it shall be lawftd to us and other 
" chief lords of the fee immediate to enter into the 
« land so aliened, within a year from the time of 
^^ their alienation, and to hold it in fee, as an 
" inheritance. And, if the chief lord immediate 
" be negligent, and will not enter into such fee 
" within the year, then it shall be lawftil to the next 
** chief lord immediate of the same fee, to enter into 
" the said land within half a year next following, 
" and to hold it as before is said ; and so every lord 
" immediate may enter into such land, if the next 
" lord be negligent in entering into the same fee, as 
" is aforesaid. And if all the chief lords of such 
" fees being of ftiU age, within the four seas, and out 
" of prison, be negligent or slack in this behalf, we 
" immediately after the year accomplished, from the 



906 The Church Hisiary book hi. 

i.D. 1379. ^ time that such purchases, gifts or appropriations hi^ 

-' ^^ to be made, shall take such lands and tenements 

** into our hand, and shall infeoff other therein, by 
" certain services to be done to us, for the defence of 
** our realm, saving to the chief lords of the same 
^* fees, their wards and eschetes, and other services 
** thereunto due and accustomed. And therefore we 
^^ command you, that ye cause the foresaid statute to 
** be read before you, and from henceforth to be kept 
** firmly and observed. 

** Witness myself at Westminster, &ccJ"^ 

Date we from this day the acme or vertical height 
of abbeys, which henceforward began to stand still, 
and at last to decline. Formerly it was endow mo- 
nasteries who would, hereafter, who could, having 
first obtained license from the king. Yet this law 
did not ruin, but regulate, not destroy, but direct 
well grounded liberality, that bounty to some mi^t 
not be injury to others. Here I leave it to lawyers 
by profession to shew how many years after (viz. the 
eighteenth of Edward the Third) prelates impeached 
before the king's justices for purchasing lands in 
mortmain, shall be dismissed without ftirther trouble, 
upon their producing a charter of license, and process 
thereupon made, by an inquest, ad qtiod damnum^ or 
(in case that cannot be shewed) by making a conve- 
nient fine for the same. 

14. The late mention of the prelates' advice, in 
passing a law so maleficial unto them, giveth me 
just occasion to name some, the principal persons of 
the clergy, present thereat ; namely, 

i. John Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, a 
stout man. He afterwards excommunicated the 
prince of Wales, because he went a long journey to 

r r Authentic Collection of the Statutes, I. p. 51.] 



€Kirr. XIII. €f Britain. 909 



penmade him to peace with E^land. but could not a. d. 1176. 
prevails- ^^^' 

ii. William Wickwane, archbishop of York, ac- 
ooonted a great scholar, (author of a book called 
Memoriale,) and esteemed a petty saint in that age'. 

iii. Anthony Beake, soon after bishop of Durham*; 
the richest and proudest (always good manners to 
except cardinal Wolsey) of that place; patriarch 
titular of Jerusalem, and prince of the Isle of Man. 
Yet in my mind Gilbert Sellinger, his contemporary, 
and bishop of Chichester, had a far better title, as 
commonly called the father of orphans, and com- 
forter of the widows*. 

These, with many more bishops, consented (though 
some of them resorbentes suam bilem as inwardly 
angry) to the passing or confirming of the statute of 
mortmain. To make them some amends, the king 
not long after favourably stated what causes should 
be of spiritual cognizance. 

15. For a parliament was called at Westminster, a. d. 1^85. 
eminent on this account, that it laid down the limits, ntuai and 
and fixed the boimdaries betwixt the spiritual and^^lj^ 
temporal jurisdictions. Hitherto shall you come ^^d^^^^^^l 

q [** John Peckham, arch- " all which I received at the 

" bishop of Canterbury, after •* hands of Dr. Gale, when he 

*' he had visited his whole pro- '* was dean of the arches." 

*' vince, considering the great Stow*s Chron. p. 201.] 
'• wars between the king and *" [See Bale's Scriptores, x. 

" Leoline [prince of the Welch], 72, and Godwin, de Praesul. 

** he travelled for the appeasing Angliae, p. 682.] 
"thereof first to the king, » [In 1283. See Trivet, 

being at Rutland, then to the p. 261.] 

prince, being at London ; t [The only account I can 

*' which his whole travail there- find of the prelate is in Mat. 

" in, with the grief and causes of Westminster, in a. 1306, 

" of those wars, be particularly and he is there called Gilberlus 

" set down word by word in de Sancto Leapardo.'} 






€t 



the said archbishop's records, 

FULLER, VOL. II. 



IIL 



-J 



both powen 

hiar^t '^vaisA^^Ain^ i0> ealars^ tbeir own, and oontnct 

sszhficsT. We viD jgeaent first tiie 

die EngiJKh oat 






oc 4Gr pcfaceit ^ggrffiys 







:jni Lt 



us .*a 



h 



pauj 



srv li 












Us 



Iteac. 5i rrrfor p«r4Bf rcratt 
parocJuamos Maitiomef, €t de^ 
ctMUis JMims fW omsm^ta*^ tW 
xt rtricr «s«# OM/m nrlormi 
^^ decimis wut^oribms^ rW st- 
»ori&«Xy dm mm todo mom peiatmr 
qmaria pars raioris ecciesut. 



Item. 5f nrrfor picimi mtor- 



*T) 



kiBg to Ills joiff» 

g,mtiiig. Use jovF- 

jinsIlBiU 

tLebiilioprf 

sad his deigy^iiot 

if tliejbold 

of 



fiBck&ziesssbe mere spirit- 
■aL dot k to wit, of pensDoe 
a^ocned brpffdstes for dead- 



•« 



«« 



«« 



jad sodi like ; for the idiidi 

penance 
pecunisry is 
speosllr if a firee 
Baa be eonTict of audi things. 
"^ Also if pstdates do pnnisli 
for learii^ dmichTard oo- 
doaedfOr for that the dinidi 
is mtm e i ed, or not oonTe- 
nimtlT dedoed, in idiidi 
caies none other penance can 
be enjained bat peconiaiy. 
"' lifwi^ If a parson demand 
of his parishioners oblations 
and tithes dne and accus- 
tomed ; or if any parson do 
sue i^ainst another parRon 
for tithes, greater or smaller^ 
so that the fourth part of 
the ralne of the benefice be 
not demanded. 
'* liewi. If m parson demand 



' 



CBKT« Xill. 



of Britain. 



«11 



U$arium in partihus uhi mor- 
tuarium dart consuevit. 

Item, Si pralaius alicujus 
ecclesiip, vel advocatus petal a 
reciore pensionem sibi debitam, 
omnes hujusmodi peliliones sunt 
faciend. in foro ecclesiasiico. 
I}e violenta manuum injectione 
in clericum, et in causa diffa- 
mationis concessum fuit alias, 
quod placitum inde teneatur in 
curia Christianitatis, cum non 
petatur pecuniae sed agalur ad 
correctionem peccati, et simi' 
Uter pro Jidei lasione. In 
omnibus pradictis casibus ha^ 
het judex ecclesiasticus cogno- 
scere regia prohibitione non 
obstante^. 



« 



« 



tc 



€€ 



<i 



mortuaries in places where a A.D. 1285. 
mortuary hath been used to '^ ^' ' 
be given. 

** Item, If a prelate of a 
church, or the patron demand 
'* of a person a pension due to 
*' him, all such demands are 
to be made in a spiritual 
court. And for laying vio- 
" lent hands on a clerk, and 
" in cause of defamation, it 
" hath been granted already, 
" that it shall be tried in a 
spiritual court when money 
is not demanded, but a thing 
done^ for punishment of sin, 
and likewise for breaking an 
" oath. In all cases afore re- 
" hearsed, the spiritual judge 
" shall have power to take 
** knowledge notwithstanding 
" the king's prohibition." 



Cf 



tt 



tc 



St 



Something must be premised about the validity 
of this writing, learned men much differing therein. 
Some make it, 

1. Only a constitution made by the prelates them- 
selves ; much to blame if they cut not large pieces, 
being their own carvers. 

ii. A mere writ issued out from the king to his 
judges. 

iii. A solemn act of parliament, complete in all 
the requisites thereof. 

Hear what a Bacon" (but neither sir Nicholas nor 



* [Rather; but the suit is 
prosecuted.'] 

▼ [Coke's Instit. part ii. p. 
487. ed. 1642. Lyndewode's 
Prov. lib. ii. f. 49 b. Auth. 



Collection of the SS. I. loi.] 

» Mr. Nath. Bacon, in his 
Hist. Dis. of the Government 
of England, part i. p. 233. [ed. 
1647.] 

P 2 






21S The Church History book lu. 

A.D. 1385. sir Francis, the two oracles of law) writes in this 
'^ ^' ' case ; " A writing somewhat like a grant of libertiefl, 
" which beforetimes were in controversy ; and this 
^^ grant (if it may be so called) hath by continuance 
^' USURPED the name of a statute, but in its own na- 
" ture is no other than a writ directed to the judges." 
Presently after he saith, " It is therefore neither 
" grant, nor release, but as it were a covenant that 

the clergy shall hold peaceable possession of what 

they had, upon this ground." And in the next 
page more plainly ; for my part therefore I shall not 
apprehend it of a higher nature than the king^s writ, 
which in those days " went forth at random.** 
•hidge 16. Come we now to the calm judgment of sir 

dsion. Edward Coke, on whose decision we may safely 
rely; ^^ Though some have said that this was no 
" statute, but made by the prelates themselves, yet 
^' that this is an act of parliament, it is proved, not 
" only by our books, but also by an act of parlia- 
" ment^.** 

17. The king to his judges^ Were it of concern- 
ment, it were not diflScult to name the prime judges 
of England at this time : viz. 

i. In the king's, or upper bench, either Ralph de 
Hengham, or (which is more probable) one Wym- 
borne wa« judge. 

ii. In the common pleas, Thomas de Weyland, on 
that token that he was guilty of bribery. 

iii. In the exchequer, Adam de Stratton, as faulty 
as the former^. 

But by the judges named in this writ (for as this 
was an act of parliament, so was there a writ also 

V Institut. ib. p. 487. ^ [Of these judges, see Stow, p. 204.] 



CBNT. XIII. of Britain. 218 

founded thereon, called circumspecte agaiis) we under- a. d. 1 285. 
stand some peculiar commissioners dispatched and ^ — ^^ 
employed on this particular business. 

18* Concerning the bishop of NormcK] It is need- 
less to tell the reader that William Middleton was 
bishop thereof at this time, charactered to be vir in 
jure civili et canonico peritissimtis et elegantissimus^. 
But Norwich is here put only for example, which 
equally extended to all the bishops of the realm. 

19. Si placitum t&ntwrint^ " if they hold plea,"] 
Placitum^ a plea so called, saith my author, per an^ 
Hphrasin^ quia non placet y; none being pleased to go 
to law save barreters, who delight in brangling. 
But what if it be called placitum^ because the plain- 
tiff is pleased to submit his right in question to the 
pleasMte of the court to decide it ? 

20. In court Christian'] These words are left out 
in Lyndewode his constitutions, where all the rest is 
registered. And, where the recording thereof 
amongst the provincial canons of Canterbury gave 
the best countenance to their conjecture, who de- 
grade this act of parliament into a mere church-con- 
stitution. It is called the court Christian, because 
therein the laws of Christ do or should bear the de- 
cisive sway, whilst the statutes of secular princes 
regulate the proceedings in other courts. 

21. Such things as be merely spiritual'] This fiir- 
nisheth us with a necessary distinction of all 
matters ; 

Into merely and purely spiritual. 
Into mixtly and partly spiritual. 

* Chronicoii.Osniense. [MS. y Lyiidewode's Provinciale, 
quoted by Godwin, De Praesul. ib. 
P- 432.] 

p3 



S14 The Church Higianf book hi. 

A.D. iiS.c.Of the former we shall find yeiy few merely roi- 

— — ritual. For the apostles sometimes conceiyed that 

the very distribution of alms to the poor had some- 
thing of worldly drossiness therein, (called by them 
serving of tables^) as if only the preaching of the 
word were a spiritual employment. Of the latter 
sort many things are mixtly spiritual. For, seeing 
man consists of two principles, soul and body, all his 
actions good or bad, as to the mind-moiety or soul 
part thereof, must needs have at least a glance of 
spiritual reflection. Here then the query will be in 
matters mixtly spiritual, whether the spirituality of 
them shall refine the rest so as to exalt the same 
into church-cognizance ; or the corporality, or earth- 
liness of them, depress them so as to subject them to 
civil consideration; the decision hereof dependeth 
on the practice and custom of the land, as will appear 
hereafter. 

22. For deadly siri] Distinguish we here betwixt 
a sin deadly to the soul, drawing damnation without 
repentance, and a deadly (commonly called a capital) 
crime, deserving death by human laws. The former 
only is here intended, the latter belonging wholly to 
the common law. Nor did the punishment of every 
mortal sin (to use the language of that age) belong to 
churchmen, seeing if so (as Lyndewode no less learn- 
edly than modestly confesseth) sic periret temporalis 
gladii jurisdiction " thereby the power of the tem- 
" poral sword will wholly be taken away." Long 
since had doctors' commons eaten up all the inns of 
court, if all things reducible to deadly sins had per- 
tained to the court Christian. And therefore the 

2 Acts vi. 2. 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 216 

casuists themselves do qualify and confine these a. 0.1^85. 

words of indefinite extent, to such crimes, which de 11 lU. 

sui natura spectant ad forum ecclesiasticum. 

23. As first fornication] Here, saith Lyndewode, 
thirteen cases are in specie recited, though I dare 
not reckon them up, fearing to make them (lying so 
confusedly) moe or less. Fornication, that is, saith 
die casuist, soluti cum soluta, the uncleanness of a 
loose (imderstand unmarried) with a loose person. 

24. Adulter^/] These two alone are specified, be- 
cause lying in a middle distance, so the more conve- 
niently to reach other sins of this kind, of higher or 
lower guilt ; 

i. Higher, as incest. 

ii. Lower, as soliciting a woman's chastity. 
If any say that adultery doth not belong to the 
court Christian, because Christ himself would not 
punish an adulteress taken in the act^, waving it as 
an improper employment ; it is answered, that our 
Saviour appearing in privacy and poverty, and coming 
not to act but to suffer, not to judge but be judged, 
justly declined all judicial power. But we see after- 
ward how the church of Corinth, by St. Paul his 
command, proceeded against the incestuous person, 
and at this time churchmen cleanly carried the cog- 
nizance of such offences. I say at this time, it 
plainly appearing that in the Conqueror's time forni- 
cation and adultery were punishable in the king's 
court, and the leets especially, by the name of 
letherwite, and the fines of offenders assessed to the 
king, though now it merely belonged to the church. 
As for a rape, being adultery, or, at leastwise, fomi- 

■^ Johu viii. 4, 1 1 . 
P 4 



216 TV 



m. 



i.D. isfef-otioa oflned witli imlenee, the eommon law hath 

!f — jnstlr reserred to haelf the trial and pmiisiiiiMot 

thereof. 

25. Amd smek Idee] Here is an iiit«|H!etatiTe 
et caetera insefted in the bodr of a pariiam^it aet 
(and a writ groonded theiem) cansin^ some dil- 
ferenees about the dimenrions thereof. For if thett 
words, and sttck Uke^ relate only to the last firae- 
going, fornication and adultery, (in common ooh 
struction most probable,) then they <mly fetch in 
such oifences which ha^e scnne tincture of caiml 
uncleanness. But, if they also refer to the mediate 
preceding words, deadly sitis^ behold a troop cometk, 
beyond our power exactly to numbo* them. And 
here foreign casuists bring in a bundle of mortal 
sins, all grist for their own mill, as of churdi-cogiii- 
zance ; namely, sacril^^e, usury, heresy, simony, per- 
jury, fortune-telling, consulting astrologers, drunken- 
ness, &c. But it matters not how long and large 
their bills be from beyond the seas, seeing our com- 
mon law brings their reckonings to a new account, 
de&lking a great part of that measure which they 
make to themselves in favour of church-juris- 
diction. 

26. For that the church is uncovered^ It belonged 
ever to the priests to provide for the decent repar 
ration of God's house. Thus Jehoiada^ was careful 
to amend the decays of the people. But though it 
pertained to churchmen to see the thing done, yet 
several persons were to do it. 

i. The steeple with the body of the church, and 
all chapels lying in common thereunto, are to be re- 
paired at the joint cost of the parish. 

*> 2 Chron. xxiv. 



c£KT. XIII. o/Britaw. 217 

ii. Private chapels wherein particular persons a. d. 1285. 

i3£dw I. 

claim a propriety of sepulture at their own charges. — 

iii. The chancel at the expense of the parson. 

However, in all these such respect is had to the 
custom of the place, time out of mind, that it often 
ovemileth the premises. Query, whether the fences 
of the churchyard be to be made on the parish 
charges, or on the purse of the several persons 
whose ground surroundeth it, or abutteth on the 
same. 

Oldations and tithes] It is a question which I 
believe will never be decided to the contentment of 
both parties, in what notion tithes belong to the 
court Christian. 

]. The Canonists maintain. That originally and e^ 
ma natura^ they are of ecclesiastical cognizance, as 
commonly avouched, and generally believed due, 
jure divino. Besides, such the near relation of the 
church and its maintenance, that to part the oil 
from the lamp were to destroy it. They produce 
also the confession in the statute of the first of 
Richard the Second, That pursuit for tithes ought, 
and of ancient time did pertain to the spiritual 
court ^. 

ii. The common Lawyers defend. That tithes in 
their own nature are a civil thing, and therefore by 
Britton (who being bishop of Hereford, and learned 
in the laws of this realm, was best qualified for an 
unpartial judge herein) omitted, when treating of 
what things the church hath cognizance. They 
affirm therefore that tithes were annexed to the 
spirituality. Thus they expound those passages in 

c Hractoii, v. 2. p. 40 r. (^ed. 1569.] 



218 



The Church HUiartf 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1385. statutes of tithes, anciently belonging to court 
— — ^^ Christian, as intended by way of concession, and not 
otherwise. 

But the canonists are too sturdy to take that for 
a gift which they conceive is their due, lest thanks 
also be expected from them for enjoying the same; 
and so we leave the question where we found it. 

27. Mortuary] Because something of history is 
folded up in this word which may acquaint us with 
the practice of this age, we will enlarge a little 
hereon, and shew what a mortuary was, when to be 
paid, by whom, to whom, and in what consideration. 

i. A mortuary* was the second best quick cattle 
whereof the party died possessed. If he had but 
two in all, (such forsooth the charity of the church,) 
no mortuary was due from him. 

ii. It was often bequeathed by the dying, but how- 
ever always payed by his executors after his death, 
thence called a mortuary or corse-present®. 

iii. By whom. No woman under covert-baron 
was liable to pay it, (and by proportion no children 



d Lyndewode*8 Provinciale, 
cap. de Consuetudine, lib. i. f. 
1 1, [ed. Paris, 1505. See also 
Gibson's Codex, p. 709. ed. 
176J.] 

e [Upon the term corse-pre- 
sents bishop Gibson observes, 
that if it was *^ the same with a 
** mortuary, the reason of the 
** name may be seen in Lynde- 
*' wode's Commentary upon 
" the Constitution of Langham 
*' [here quoted], viz. that it 
" used to be carried to the 
'* church with the dead corpse;*' 



and Mr. Selden* quotes an 
ancient record, where it is re- 
cited that a horse was present 
at the church the same day in 
the name of a mortuary, &c., 
and that the parson received 
him according to the custom of 
the land and of holy church. 
But sir William Dugdalet, and 
after him bishop Stillingfleet^, 
have shewn and affirmed that 
the corse-present was properly 
the voluntary oblations which 
were usually made at fune- 
rals.] 



* On Tythes, p. 287. f Warwickshire, p. 470. X Eccl. Cas. I. i. p. 248. 



csNT.xiii. of Britain. S19 

nmnarried living under their father's tuition,) but a. 0.1185. 

widows, and all possessed of an estate, were subject — 

to the payment thereof. 

iv. To whom. It was paid to the priest of the 
parish where the party dying received thie sacrament, 
(not where he repaired to prayers,) and if his house 
at his death stood in two parishes, the value of the 
mortuary was to be divided betwixt them both. 

v. It was given in lieu of small or personal tithes 
(predial tithes are too great to be casually forgotten) 
which the party in his lifetime had, through igno- 
rance or negligence, not fiilly paid. But in case the 
aforesaid mortuary fell far short of full satisfaction 
for such omissions, casuists maintain the dying party 
obliged to a larger restitution. 

So much of mortuaries as they were generally paid 
at the present, until the time of Henry the Sixth, 
when learned Lyndewode wrote his comment on 
that constitution. How mortuaries were after re- 
duced to a new regulation by a statute, in the 
twenty-first of Henry the Eighth, pertains not to our 
present purpose. 

28. For laying violent hands on a priest^ The ec- 
clesiastical judge might proceed ea? officio^ and pro 
salute animiBj punish the offender who offered vio- 
lence to a priest ; but damages on action of battery 
were only recoverable at common law: note, that 
the arresting of a clergyman by process of law is not 
to be counted a violence. 

29. And in case of defamation^ Where the matter 
defamatory is spiritual, as to call one heretic, or 
schismatic, &c. the plea lay in court Christian. But 
defamations with mixture, any matter determinable 



220 The Church History book iii. 

A.D. 1385. in the common law, as thief, murderer, &c. are to be 

traversed therem. 

30. Defamation^ it hath been granted^ From this 
word granted, common lawyers collect (let them 
alone to husband their own right) that originally 
defamations pertained not to the court Christian. 
From the beginning it was not so, until the common 
law by acts of parliament granted and surrendered 
such suits to the spirituality. 

No end can 31. Thus by this act and writ of drcumspecte 

end BTi 6ver> 

lasting dif> agatis, king Edward may seem like an expert artist^ 
erence. ^^ clcave a hair, betwixt the spiritual and temporal 
jurisdiction, allowing the premises to the former, 
and leaving whatever is not specified in this act to 
the cognizance of the common law, according to the 
known and common maxim, Ea^ceptio firmat regtdam 
in non ea^ceptis. However, for many years after 
there was constant heaving and shoving betwixt the 
two courts. And as there are certain lands in the 
marches of England and Scotland (whilst distinct 
kingdoms) termed debatable-grounds, which may 
give for their motto, not dentur justiori, but dentur 
fortiori^ for alway the strongest sword for the present 
possessed them : so in controversial cases to which 
court they should belong ; sometimes the spirituality, 
sometimes the temporality alternately seized them 
into their jurisdiction, as power and favour best be- 
friended them. But generally the clergy complained, 
that as in the blending of liquors of several colours 
few drops of red will give a tincture to a greater 
quantity of white, so the least mixture of civil con- 

^ See more iiereof on Articuli Cleri, in the reign of Edward 
tlie Second. 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 91X1 

eemment in religious matters so discolourated the a. d. 1385. 
Christian candour and purity thereof, that they ap- ^^ 
peered in a temporal hue, and under that notion 
were challenged to the common law. Sad, when 
courts that should be judges turn themselves plain- 
tifi& and defendants about the bounds of their juris- 
diction. ^ 

32. We long since mentioned the first coming in a. d. h^o. 
of the Jews into England, (brought over by William to the en- 
the Conqueror,) and now are come this year to their J|^^^^ 
easting out of this kingdom ; having first premised ^^ '^^^' 
some observables concerning their continuance 
therein. If hitherto we have not scattered our 
history with any discourse of the Jews, know it done 
by design : that as they were enjoined by our laws 
to live alone in streets by themselves, (not mixing in 
their dwellings with Christians,) so we purposely 
singled out their story, and reserved it by itself for 
this one entire relation thereof. 

83. They were scattered all over England. InTh«rpnn- 

cipal resi- 

Cambridge, Bury, Norwich, Lynn, Stamford, North- dence in 
ampton, Lincoln, York, and where not ? But their 
principal abode was in London, where they had their 
aich-synagogue at the north comer of the Old 
Jewry, as opening into Lothbury. After their ex- 
pulsion their synagogue was turned into the convent 
of the Friars of the Sack, or, De Pcenitentia Jesu ; 
and after their suppression it became successively 
the house, first of a lord, then of a merchant ; since 
of any man for his money, being turned into a 
tavern, with the sign of the Windmill®. A proper 

® Stow's Survey of London^ obtain notice in England, 
p. 288. [The Friars of the Stow's Chron. p. 205.] 
Sack began about this time to 



BOOI III. 

^_x nc:. *Bcs '^» ''^iifa^ iiK nifiQiiilflfieBE of that place, 
ZL^crz TTZZL ^^'v^sL naut!^ f c ^mroetf faalh been turned 

iwiiss. and to fo mmoT uses. 
-^rrL jyi<v*nnfient of Jews in Eng- 
aow ^3t- iZ3c 'wT oTe: Tiiffrr «Bie pnnripal officer, 
aLr-L ifc u^rr^er ir iiif^ Jeirs. wbose place in 
3.''i?»''£r ^afe- arxr i» lit^ lairfra^ irf the exchequer'. 
11?- -ar^ v;%^ ^« te :xzi£ lacTini and piotector of the 
::: ^zaer* n^ Tyips. 7r oadoe all suits betwixt 
j:^ a!t£ iiien«. anc 74' kfiE^ the seal of the 
:3t*r ^r^iac»aL vii ^ie te^ rf their trea- 
^iir- •^■jc^'T^ ir sai mnnif^ s^ iher paid as tri- 

'jLi^ x» irt ^ng rtanimse lie Jews had age 
/pir-iir^ •' ii-^*'^ Tit kf^ rtf zjmsst own cofl&rs them- 
es* -i.^ ST.. irr ^.1- marx n ms than with others. 
>r fc.w*T kt: 3rj^. aiiL sr ridi^i LoveL (afterward 
't f^'c^uiiu. mfa re iociial nobility, sue- 
.* V- .:s:*iu'r?:»i :ai5!' 7iiari£- l^iese justicers often 



dL'V'v i— ::^ ii i^^fcocM rtf xbisr cBents the Jews ; 
-,->v js-^i^-i as- . Tu**- r rvatnibane^ cc br the Elnglish 
'»;.'^ sa- a C^tc ,7n;^!^aairi'^, xittii when a Jew was 
*.u^t:.^*'-tiK X:^»'<ti oit; ^r:^'S>fe!Cis&l Tod^ for his mis- 
1 .^rv ^jfe^ iairrdi^^ xifufaicie olfeied to some 
aututu^^ v:ta «. C^CKCiBi: wv-^man, &o.) their 
.^v.i u:^^i*L^ vr.uiu: nOifaMise. acno. hf a prohibition 
vs;3&ii^^ rt»tfi :;i«; i:]]^^ lOKTOR aS lesal jnoceedings 
:^);^i4^ ?<iKa 4 *V«^ j^ ifDX sK^vnble in his own 



V:*A*.< ^iajOrff* ic ^"Vf*!^ JT 5fei*w^"« Sarreyof Lon- 

,x X^wxv-*-' ^ ^v- ^ -^^* ^ ^^ BOKWUttt of Cole- 

,x^ mjii.,acr«« ward, irhere the 

• *Iv**>ft**---*5* X-AOi-i-? ?^ A*nrv v!ff* f^iiedy situated. 

.s^v^>*>v - V- ?*^Tiiif * R<onrd*, toI. III., 

^ S^^ X ,v»: ><f •* "iw *»t X%r. r*«*T's Anglia Ju- 

*^vv*ix5^ ^*,K.tv^*^ »t^« iw^ ^cr inmaoii Kadi iirfbrmatioii 



CENT. XIII. of Britain. 228 

85. In their spiritual government they were ^.U^.D-i^^o. 
under one pontifex, or high priest. We find his 
name was Elias who anno 1254 had that office. Hepnest, or 
was also called the presbyter of the Jews, whose SiTjewI 
place was usually confirmed at least, if not consti- 
tuted by the king, who by his patent granted the 
same, as may appear by this copy of king John's, as 
followeth : 

" Johannes Dei gratia, &c. omnibus fidelibus suis, 
" et omnibus etiam Judaeis Anglise salutem. Sciatis 
nos concessisse, et praesenti charta nostra confir- 
masse Jacobo Judaeo de Londoniis presbytero 
" Judaeorum presbjiieratum omnium Judaeorum to- 
tius Angliae, habendum et tenendum quamdiu vix- 
erit, libere et quiete, et honorifice, et integre, ita 
quod nemo ei super hoc molestiam aliquam, aut 
gravamen inferre praesumat : quare volumus et 
" firmiter prsecipimus, quod eidem Jacobo quoad vix- 
erit presbyteratum Judaeorum per totam Angliam, 
garantetis, manuteneatis, et pacifice defendatis; 
" et si quis ei super eo forisfacere praesumserit, id ei 
" sine dilatione salva nobis emenda nostra, de foris- 
" &ctura nostra, emendari faciatis, tanquam dominico 
" Judaeo nostro, quem specialiter in servitio nostro 
retinuimus. Prohibemus etiam ne de aliquo ad se 
pertinente ponatur in placitum, nisi coram nobis, 
aut coram capitali justicia nostra, sicut charta regis 
" Richardi, fratris nostri, testatur. Teste S. Batho- 
niensi episcopo &c. Dat. per manum H. Cantuari- 






it 
ii 

€i 



it 



ti 
a 
it 



tt 



for the history of the Jews in enactments by which they were 
this country, and of the legal affected.] 



2S4 



The Chttrch History 



BOOK IlL Is 



A. D. 1290.^^ ensis archiepiscopi cancellarii nostri, apud Rotho- 1^ 
^' ' " magum 81 die Julii, anno regni nostri primo^" 



<c 



Jewi 

griping 

UAirers. 



I have transcribed this patent the rather for the 
rarity thereof, it being a strange sight to see a 
Christian archbishop date an instrument for a JeTrish 
presbyter. 

86. Their livelihood was all on usury. One verse 
in Deuteronomy^ (with their comment thereon) was 
more beneficial unto them than all the Old Testa- 
ment besides. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend 
upon usury ^ but unto thy brother thou shaU not lend 
upon usury. Now interpreting all strangers who 
(though neighbours at the next door) were not of 
their own nation, they became the universal usurers 
of all England ; and did our kingdom this courtesjr, 
that because all hated the Jews for their usury's sake, 
all also hated usury for the Jews' sake; so that 
Christians generally disdained to be guilty thereof. 
Now, seeing there are two ways to wealth, one long 
and sure, by saving at home, the other short, but 
not so certain, (because probably it may meet with 



i Rot. Chart, i Job. part i. 
mem. 28. [Printed in Hardy's 
Charter Rolls^ p. 6. See another 
document of the same nature 
in the Foedera* I. 95.] 

^ Deut. xxiii. 20. [In a 
parliament held at Westmin- 
ster in the commencement of 
this king's reign, they were 
forbidden to take usury; and 
besides other indignities, were 
ordered for distinction sake to 
wear a tablet the breadth of a 
palm on their outer garments. 



Stow's Chron. p. 20c. In the 
year 1278 two hundred and 
sixty-seven of them were exe- 
cuted fbr clipping coin^ and in 
1282 archbishop Peckham de- 
stroyed all their synagogues. 
In 1 287 all the Jews were ap- 
prehended by the king's order, 
and redeemed themselves for 
1 2,000 pounds silver ; and two 
years after were banished the 
couutry to the number of 
15,060 persons. See Stow's 
Chronicle in the various years.] 



CENT. XIII. of Britam, 2S5 

detection and punishment,) by oppressing abroad, noA.D 1290. 

wonder if the Jews, using both ways, quickly arrived I !!l_l 

at vast estates. 

37. For, first for their fare, it was coarse in the Their rapa- 

ciousneu 

quality, and yet slender in the quantity thereof, and tena- 
Insomuch that they would in a manner make pottage *^®^""®^ 
of a flint. Swine's flesh indeed they would not eat, 
but dogs' meat they would ; I mean beef and 
mutton, so poor and lean that the refuse of all 
Christians was the Jews' choice in the shambles. 
Clothes they wore so poor and patched, beggars 
would not take them up to have them. Attendants 
they kept none, every one waiting on himself. No 
wonder then if easily they did overgrow others in 
wealth, who basely did under Jive themselves in all 
convenient accommodations. Nor were they less 
gripple in keeping than greedy in catching of goods, 
who would as soon lose their fingers as let go what 
they had clutched therein. 

88. I was of the opinion (and perchance not with- Jewi might 

purdiase 

out company in my mistake) that the Jews werehoiwes. 
not permitted to purchase lands in England. I 
thought only the ground of their graves (generally 
buried without Cripplegate, in the Jews' garden, on 
the west side of St. Giles's churchyard, now turned 
into tenements in Red-cross-street) could be termed 
theirs. But since I am informed that Benomy Mit- 
tun, a Jew, (as certainly many more besides him,) 
was possessed of much land, and many houses in 
several parishes in London^. Surely their purchases 
were limited within some restrictions. But the Jews 
generally more &ncied letting out of money than 

1 Stow's Survey, p. 288. 

FULLER, VOL. II. Q 



2S^ The Church History book hi. 

A.D. i29o.bu]ring in of land, as which made their estates less 
~ subject to discovery, more plentiful in their in- 
creasing, and more portable in the removing thereof. 
Lay-«Kcm- 39. It was an usual punishment leffally inflicted 

miinicadon, /.i./*» .1 

what it was. on thcso Jows, toF their offences not capital, to ex- 
communicate them. Thus such Jews should be 
excommunicated, who, contrary to the laws, kept 
Christian nurses in their houses ™ ; or who cast off 
that badge or cognizance which they ought to have 
worn over their upper garment, to be distinguished 
from Christians. Surely such excommunication was 
no ecclesiastical censure, needless to keep the Jews 
out of our churches, who hated all coming into 
them. Rather it was a civil penalty, (equivalent to 
the university's discommoning a townsman in Cam- 
bridge,) whereby the Jews were debarred all com- 
merce with Christians, (worse to them than all the 
plagues of Egypt,) and so the mart of their profit 
marred, dearer unto them than life itself. 

Jewsunfor- 40. Eudlcss it wcro to reckon up the indignities 

tunate at x o 

feasts aiid offered unto these Jews, on occasion sometimes 
™^ given, but oftener taken. Apprentices nowadays do 
not throw sticks at cocks on Shrove Tuesday so 
commonly as then on that day they used clubs on 
the Jews, if appearing out of their houses. A people 
equally unhappy at feasts and at frays. For when- 
soever the Christians at any revels made great enter- 
tainments, the Jews were made to pay the reckon- 
ing. And wheresoever any brawl began in London, 
it ended always in the Old Jewry, with pillaging of 
the people therein. What good heart can without 
grief recount the injuries offered to those who once, 

"™ Additamenta Matthsei Par. p. 202. 



CENT. XHi. of Britain. 9^1 

were the only people of God? These were they who a.d. 1190. 
preferred Barabbas before Christ their Saviour,' 



which Barahhas was a robber^^ a raiser of insur- 
rectioUj and a murderer^. And ever since that time, 
in all insurrections against them, (when they desired 
and sought safety and deliverance,) it hath been 
their constant portion to be robbed and murdered. 

41. But the most terrible persecution fell uponAsad Jew- 
them at the coronation of king Richard the First?, " ^^ ' 
which, according to the Jewish computation, was 

their jubilee; and then busy in the observance 
thereof, though (alas) they had not one merry day in 
the compass of the whole year. They were for- 
bidden, for fear of their enchantments, to approach 
the king's coronation, upon heavy penalties de- 
nounced. Now their curiosity was so far above 
their covetousness, or rather, their wilfulness so far 
above their curiosity herein, that, out of their old 
^spirit of contradiction, some appeared there, which 
caused the killing of many, robbing of more Jews in 
London. On the same account, within few days 
after (how quickly can cruelty ride post seven score 
and ten miles !) five hundred Jews besieged in a tower 
at York, first beheaded their own wives and children, 
and then burnt themselves, to escape more cruel 
torments. 

42. In the seventeenth year of the reign of king London 
John, the barons brake into the Jews' houses, and^thj*^. 
rifled their coffers, and with the stone of their "^ **^'^- 
houses repaired the gates and walls of London^. 
Surely such stones must be presumed very hard, like 

n John xviii. 40. William of Newbury,! v. i.sq.] 

o Mark xv. 7. ^ Stow's Survey of London» 

P [See the details of it in p. 288. 



228 The Church Hhtwy booi hi. 

A.D. 1290. the Jews their owners, from whom they were taken, 

and yet they soon mouldered away with wind aad 

weather. Indeed plundered stone never make strong 
walls. And I impute it as a partial cause of the 
weakness of London walls, (which no enemy ever 
since assaulted but he entered them,) that a great 
part of them (enough to infect all the rest) was 
built with materials got by oppression. 

Thv7 ^^ *^' ®^*' ^^'^ ^^^ English kings, none ground the 
to the* Jews with exactions like king Henry the Third. 
Only herein the Jews might and did comfort them- 
selves, that the English, his native subjects, also 
smarted soundly under his oppression. He not only 
flayed the skin, but raked the flesh, and scarified the 
bones of all the Jews' estates in England ; ut vivere fasti" 
direnty " that it was irksome for them to live/* Gold 
he would receive of every Jewish man or woman 
always with his own hand, but consigned other 
officers to receive the silver from them^ One of- 
fensive act he wilfully did to their conscience, in 
giving them leave, at their own cost and chaises, to 
build them a new synagogue, and when they had 
finished it, he commanded them to dedicate it to the 
Virgin Mary, whereby they utterly lost the use 
thereof*; and afterwards the king gave it to be a 
cell of St. Anthony of Vienna. A vexatious deed, 
merely to despite them, who are (since their smart- 
ing for idolatry in the captivity of Babylon) perti- 
nacious worshippers of one God, and nothing more 
retardeth their conversion to Christianity, than the 
scandal given daily unto them by the popish saint- 
jship to their images. 

y Mat. Paris, p. 605. * Stow's Survey, p. 190. 



CUENT. XIII. 



of Britain. 



9129 



44. It may justly seem admirable, whence these a.d. 1290. 

Jews, so often pillaged to their bare skins, so sud ^^ 

denly recruited themselves with wealth. What lomejUIH' 
have heard affirmed of some ground in Gloucester- 'J^j^^' 
shire, that in a kindly spring, bite it bare over night, ^^^^ 
next morning the grass will be grown to hide a 
wand therein, is most certainly true in application to 
the Jews, so fiill and fest did wealth flow in upon 
them. Let their eggs not only be taken away, but 
their nests be plucked down ; yet within few years 
we shall find them hatching a new brood of wealth 
therein. This made many suspect them for clipping 
and coining of money. But, to lessen the wonder of 
these Jews their speedy recovery, know, that (besides 
some of their invisible hoards escaping their plim- 
derers' hands) the Jews in other places (where the 
persecution for the present) furnished them to set 
up trading again. Indeed commendable was the 
Jews' charity to their own countrymen, save that 
necessity commanded them to love one another, 
being hated of all other nations^. 



t [The persecution of the 
Jews was always a popular 
measure, to which many of 
our English soTereigns had re- 
course in a barbarous age from 
motives of interest as well as 
rel^on. 

£yen John, whose character 
has been severely handled for 
being somewhat more mild to 
these persecuted people, when 
reproving the mayor of London 
and others for allowing certain 
Jews to be molested who were 
under his protection, expresses 
himself thus ; *' Miremur quod 
*' Judseis in civitate London' 



" morantibus malum fieri sus- 
'* tinetis cum id manifeste sit 
" contra pacem regni et terrse 
'^ nostrse tranquillitatem ; tanto 
'* quidem inde magis miramur 
*' et movemur quia alii Judaei 

" qui per Angliam moram 

'* fecerint, exceptis illis qui 
" sunt in villa vestra in bona 
*' pace consistunt. Nee id 
" tamen duximus pro Judais 
'^ pro pace nostra, quia si ctii- 
'* dam cani pacem nostram 
" dedissemuSf deberetur invio- 
'* labiliterobservari/'Pat.Rolls 
5. Joh. n. 3. in Rymer's Feed. 
L 89. 

q3 



\ 



230 The Church History ftooK ill. 

A.D. H90. 45. To avoid these miseries, they had but one 

— shift, (and, as used by some of them, it was but a 

counterfeit shift indeed,) to pretend themselves Christian con- 
"^""^ verts, and to tender themselves to be baptized. To 
such persons, in a temporal respect, baptism washed 
away all sin ; they being cleared and quitted from 
all ante-facts, how heinous soever, by their entrance 
into Christianity. Thus anno 1259, Elias Biscop, a 
London Jew, charged with many horrible crimes; 
and, amongst others, that with poisoned drink he 
had caused the death of many English gentlemen^ 
escaped all punishment by being baptized. For the. 
further encouragement of their conversion, king. 
Henry the Third erected a small house in Chancery-, 
lane (where the office of the rolls is now kept) for. 
convert Jews to dwell in, allowing a daily salary to. 
them for their maintenance. It is to be feared many; 
lived therein who were Jews inwardly, but not in 
the apostle's acception thereof, in the spirit, but in 
the letter, whose praise is not of men, hut of God "^i 
but I mean such who still retained the dregs of 
Judaism under the feigned profession of Chris- 
tianity. Sure I am, king Edward at this time was 
so incensed against the Jewish nation, that now he 
resolved the total and final extirpation of them and 
theirs out of his dominions, 
juisde- 46. Many misdemeanours were laid to their charge, 

^^^"^ amongst which these foUovring were the principal. 



meanoiira 
charged o 
the Jews. 



In 1 289 Edward I. expelled " rum reliqua coniiscavit ; " for 

them entirely out of England, which expulsion the people 

In the words of Trivet, I. 266, in gratitude granted him a 

'*Jud8eo8 omnes eodem anno fifteenth, (ib.)] 
'^ expellens de Anglia datis ^ Mat. Paris, p. 982. 
*' expensis in Gallias bona eo- . ^ Rom. ii. 29. 



CEKT. XIII. of Britain. 231 

First, enchantments. This was an old sin of the a. d. 1290. 

Jews, whereof the prophets always complained ; the — 

multitude of thy sorceries^ and the great abundance of 
Ihine enchantments^ And it seems they still re- 
tained their old wicked wont. Secondly, poisoning. 
To give the Jews their due, this was none of their 
faults, whilst living in their own land, not meeting 
with the word in the whole Bible. It seems they 
learnt this sin after their dispersion in other nations, 
and since are grown exquisite in that art of wicked- 
ness. Thirdly, clipping of money. Fourthly, counter- 
feiting of Christians' hands and seals. Fifthly, ex- 
tortion. A Jew occasioned a mutiny in London by - 
demanding from a poor Christian above two shillings 
for the use of twenty shillings for one week, being, 
by proportion, no less than five hundred and twenty 
pounds per annum for every hundred. Sixthly, cru- 
cifying of the children of Christians (to keep their 
hands in ure) always about Easter. So that the 
time pointed at their intents directly in derision of 
our Saviour. How sufficiently these crimes were 
witnessed against them I know not. In such cases 
weak proofs are of proof against rich offenders. We 
may well believe, if their persons were guilty of 
some of these faults^ their estates were guilty of all 
the rest. 

47. Now although it passeth for an uncontrolled Jews say 
truth, that the Jews were by the king violently cast ^t ou^ 
out of the land, yet a great lawyery states the case f^'^g'^^^ 
much otherwise, viz. that the king did not directly ^®p*^- 
expel them, but only prohibit them to put money to 
use ; which produced a petition from them to the 

^ Isai. xlvii. 9. 

y Sir. Ed. Coke. [Instit. part 11. p. 507. cd. 1642.] 

Q 4 



2S2 The Church History book hi. 

A. 1). 1 290. king, that they might have leave to depart the land; 

!LJ a request easily granted unto them : some will say it 

is all one in effect, whether one be starved or stab- 
bed, death inevitably following from both, as here 
the Jews were famished on the matter out of Eng^ 
land; usury being their meat and drink, without 
which they were unable longer to subsist : however 
this took off much from the odium of the act, that 
they were not immediately, but only indirectly and 
consequentially baniihed the realm, or rather per- 
mitted a free departure on their own petition for the 
same. As for the sad accident that some hundreds 
of them being purposely shipped out of a spitefid 
design in a leaking vessel, were all drowned in the 
sea, if true, it cannot but command compassion in any 
Christian heart. 
A.D. 1293. 48. It is hardly to be believed what vast sums of 
gets incre- Wealth accHicd to the king by this (call it ejection, 
forfeited by OT amotiou, or) deccssiou of the Jews. He allowed 
the Jews, ^j^^jj^ ^^ly bare viaticum to bear their charges, and 
seized on all the rest of their estates. Insomuch 
that now the king needed not to listen to the counsel 
A.D. 1294. of William Marsh, bishop of Bath and Wells, and 
treasurer of England, (but therein speaking more 
like a treasurer than a bishop,) advising him, if in 
necessity, "to take all the plate and money of 
" churches and monasteries therewith to pay his 
" soldiers^." The poor Jews durst not go into France^ 
(whence lately they had been solemnly banished,) 
but generally disposed themselves in Germany and 
Italy, especially in the pope's territories therein, 
where profit from Jews and Stews much advance 
the constant revenues of his holiness. 

2 Polydore Virgil. [Hist. p. 332.] 



c:bnt. xui. of Britain. 288 

49- Kimr Edward hayinir done with the Jews. a. 1x1192. 

20 £dw. I. 

began with the Scots^ and effectually humbled them .-- — 

and their country. This the occasion. Two com-w^arw- 
petitors appearing for the crown of Scotland, John^^^^. 
Balliol and Robert Bruce, and both referring their j^^^ 
title to king Edward's decision, he adjudged the 
same to Balliol, or rather to himself in Balliol. For 
he enjoined him to do homage unto him, and that 
hereafter the Scottish crown should be held in fealty 
of the English. Balliol, or his necessity rather, his 
person being in king Edward's power, accepted the 
condition, owning m England one above himself, 
that so he might be above all in Scotland. But no a.d. 1295. 
sooner was he returned into his own kingdom, and 
peaceably possessed thereof, but instantly in a letter 
of defiance % he diselaimeth all former promises to 
king Edward, appealing to the Christian world, 
whether his own enforced obedience were more to 
be pitied, or king Edward's insolence, improving it- 
self on a prince's present extremities, more to be 
condemned. 

50. Offended heieat, king Edward advanceth into a. d. 1296. 
Scotland, with the forces he formerly intended for,„^foJ]^ 
France. Power and policy make a good medley* ^*'^''*^'"*^ 
and the one fareth the better for the other. King 
Edward to strengthen himself thought fit to take in 
the title of Robert Bruce, Balliol's corrival, hitherto 
living privately in Scotland, pretending to settle him 
in the kingdom. Hereupon the Scots, to lessen 
their losses and the English victories, affirm**, that in 
this expedition their own countrymen were chiefly 



a [This letter is printed in ^ G. Buchanan Rerum Scot. 
Trivet. 290.] [Lib. viii. p. 74 sq. ed. 1583.] 



S54 Tlu Church HiHory of Britain. book lu. 

A. D. r996. conquered by their own countrymen, the Brucian 
' party assisting the English. Sure it is that king 
Edward took Berwick, Dunbar, Sterling, Edinburgh, 
the crown, sceptre, and, out of Scone, the royal 
chair and prophetical marble therein*. And though 
commonly it be observed, that English valour hope- 
fully budding and blossoming on this side of Edin- 
burgh-frith is frost-bitten on the north thereof, yet 
our victorious Edward, crossing that sea, took Mont- 
rose and the best counties thereabout. In a word, 
he conquered almost all the garden of Scotland, and 
left the wilderness thereof to conquer itself. Then 
having settled [John] Warren, earl of Surrey, vice- 
roy thereof, and made all the Scottish nobility, 
Doughty Douglas alone excepted, who was com- 
mitted to prison for his singular recusancy, swear 
homage tmto him, and taking John Balliol captive 
along with him, he returned triumphantly into 
England. 

c [Trivet, I. 294.] 

4 



THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 



TO 



CLEMENT THROCKMORTON THE ELDER, 



OF 



HASELEY IN WARWICKSHIRE, ESQ.a 

Ijdt others boctst of their French bloody whilst your English 
family may vie gentry with any of the Norman ex- 
traction. 1. For antiquity, four monosyllabes being, 
by common pronunciation, crowded into your name; 
THE^ ROCK^ MORE, TOWN. 2. For numcTosity, being 
branched into so many counties. 3. For ingenuity,. 
. charactered by Camden^ to be fruitful of fine wits, 
whereof several instances might be produced. 

But a principal consideration which doth, and ever shall 
command my respect unto your person, is your faithful 



& [In the time of Camden 
their chief seat was atCoughton 
in the same county. Arms. Gules 
on a chevron argent, three 
bars gemels, sable. This Cle- 
ment Throckmorton^ of Hase- 
-ley, county of Warwick, was 
descended from a junior branch 
of a very ancient and honour- 
able family seated at Coughton 
in the same county as far back 
as the reign of Henry the 
Third ; his grandfather, of the 
same name, being fourth son 
of sir George Throckmorton of 



Coughton. He was son and 
heir to Job Throckmorton, 
seated at Haseley 37th Hen. 
VIII. (1545), by his wife Do. 
rothy, daughter of Thomas 
Vernon. He married Letitia, 
daughter of sir Clement Fisher 
of Packington, and at the time 
when Fuller wrote must have 
been of an advanced age^ as his 
son^ Clement Throckmorton 
the younger, then livings was 
bom in 1604.] 

^ Brit, in Warwickshire, 
[p. 426.] 




eS6 Tke CAvcA RvUmy 

and eordial fnendJtip in matten of Jughat i 

ment {vhatever be the stuxaa tkertof) to the best ofrng 

relations, whieh I amceived wi^telf obliged pti&Keb/ bt 

MIDST these cniel ware betwixt the 
Eiigibb and Scots, pope Bom&ce the 
Eighth seDt hia lettere to king Ed^rard, 
rfquirii^ him to quit his claim and 
cease Ms wats, and release his prisoD- 
ere of the Scotch nation, as a people exempt and 
properly pertaining to his own chapel. Perohance 
the pope's right to the crown of Scotland is written 
on the backside of Constantino's donation. And it 
ia Btnuige. that if Scotland be the pope's peculiar 
demesnes, it should be so &r distant from Borne, his 
chief mansion house ; he grounded his title th^e- 
irnto, because " Scotland first was couTerted by the 
" relics of the blessed apostle St. Peter through the 
" divine operation of God to the unity of the eathohc 
" faith'." But it seems not so much ambition in 
his holiness made him at this present to start this 
pretence, but the secret solicitation of the Scots 
themselves, who now to avoid the storm of the 
English, ran under this bush, and put themselves in 
the pope's protection. 
King Ed. S. Hereupon king Edward called a council of his 
itud bj lords at Lincoln, where perusing the contents of the 



■ Fox, Acta, &c. I. 444-7. Trivet, p. 319, " per bead Pe. 

[It is a curious ^t, for " tri apostoli venerandi reli- 

tlie origin of wbich I cannot " quias." Whereas in the ori- 

account, that all our cfaroni- ginal it is, " per beati Andres" 

clers who have given an ab- &c. See Wilkina. II. 357. 

ffrac'of this l«tterof thepope. Feed. I. 907. Mat. Westmo- 

have copied the oversight of nast. p. 420. Trivet, 3 18.] 



CENT. xiY. of BriiiUn. S87 

{>ope's prescripl;, he returned a large answers wherein a. d. 1301 . 

he endeavoured by evident reasons and ancient pre — 

cedents, to prove his propriety in the kingdom of ^1^;^ 
Scotland. This was seconded by another from the^hS'own 
English peerage, subscribed with all their hands, '*^*' 
the whole tenor whereof deserves to be inserted, but 
this passage must not be omitted, being directed to 
no meaner than his holiness himself. 

" Wherefore, after treaty had and diligent deli- 
" beration of the contents in your foresaid letters, 
^^ this was the common agreeing and consent with 
*' one mind, and shall be without fail in time to 
" come by God's grace ; that our foresaid lord the 
" king ought by no means to answer in judgment in 
" any case, or should bring his foresaid rights into 
" doubt ; nor ought to send any proctors or mes- 
" sengers to your presence: especially seeing that 
** the premises tend manifestly to the disheriting of 
" the right of the crown of England, and the plain 
'^ overthrow of the state of the said realm, and also 
" hurt of the liberties, customs, and laws of our 
" fathers : for the keeping and defence of which we 
" are bound by the duty of our oath made, and we 
" will maintain them with all power, and will defend 
" them (by God's help) with all strength d." 

The pope perceived he had met with men which 
imderstood themselves, and that king Edward was 
no king John, to be frighted or flattered out of 
his right, he therefore was loath to clash his keys 
against the other's sword, to try which was made of 
the hardest metal; but foreseeing the verdict would go 

<^ pn Trivet, 3 20.] the 29th of the reign of king 

^ It is extant in Fox ut £dwardtheFir8t^p.3ii. [Also 
supra, as also in Holinshed, in in Trivet^ SB^O 



S8B 



The Ckmrtk Huimnf 



in. 



A.D. ijof.agaiiMt him, wiselj nonsuited 



WheveMlnd 



!2 !!Ll tbui unjmrt challenger met with a timorous defendant, 

it had been enough to have created an undeniable 
title to him and his successors. The best is, nuBum 
temjms occurrit papa, ^ no process of time doth pre- 
** judice the pope's due ;" but whensoever he pleasetb 
to prosecute his right, Scotland lieth stiU in the 
same place where it did before. 
A. D. 1501. 3' About this time a subject brought in a bull of 
^^^ **^or excommunication against another subject of this 



•J2^ ^^ realm, and published it to the lord treasurer of Eng- 
iiMpop0*t land, and this was by the ancient common law of 

buIL 

England adjudged treason against the king. Ids 
crown and dignity, for the which the offender should 
have been drawn and hanged, but at the great in- 
stance of the chancellor and treasurer, he was only 
abjured the realm for ever ^.^ And this case is the 
more remarkable, because be was condemned by the 
common law of England before any particular sta- 
tute was enacted in that behalf. 
A.D. 1305. 4. But the courage of king Edward most appeared 
bishop of' in humbling and ordering Robert Winchelsea, arcli- 
JIJJUJJ^*''^ bishop of Canterbury 8^. He was an insolent man, 
bphe hated even of the clergy, because, though their 



« Brook tit. prsemunire, pi. 
I o, [as quoted by] sir Edward 
Coke ; Reports, part v. de jure 
Reg.f. 12. 

9 [Winchelsea's great fault 
was in advancing and support- 
ing the papal power. Arch- 
bishop barker gives him a 
more favourable character, 
justly discriminating his merits 
as a prelate and lover of his 
country, from his errors as a 
violent adherent to the pope. 



" Cujus acta si^ quo animo in 
*' patriam et rempublicam gesta 
" sint, existimari debeant, 
" recta judicanda sunt ; sin 
" Romanam consuetudinem 
*' pravitatemque spectes, scele- 
" rata atque impia." Antiq. 
Brit. p. 302. His chiefest crime 
was in humbling the pride of 
the abbots and monks ; and 
therefore what is stated by the 
chroniclers to his prejudice 
must be received with caution.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 289 

champion to preserve them from civil and secular a. d. 1305. 
burdens, yet the pope's broker, to reserve them for ^1 — H-I 
his unconscionable exactions, as if keeping churchmen 
to be vRTonged by none but himself. Long had the 
king looked on him with an angry eye, as opposite 
to his proceedings, and now at the last had him at 
his mercy for plotting treason with some others of 
the nobility against him, projecting to depose him, 
and set up his son Edward in his room^. 

5. The archbishop throwing himself prostrate atOuiitineM 
the king's feet, with tears and lamentation', confessed prou? men 
his feult in a posture of cowardly dejection, de-***"* 
scending now as much beneath himself as formerly 
he had arrogantly insulted over others^; some^ are 
loath to allow him guilty of the crime objected, 
others conceive him only to have done this, pre- 
suming on the king's noble disposition for pardon. 
But such must yield him a traitor either to the 
king's croMn, or to his own innocence, by his un- 
worthy acknowledging his offence. Thus that man 
who confesseth a debt which he knows not due, 
hoping his creditor will thereupon give him an 
acquittance, scarce deserveth pity for his folly, if 
presently sent to prison for non-payment thereof. 
Then he called the king his master, a term where- 
with formerly his tongue was unacquainted, (whom 
neither by word or letter he would ever acknowledge 
under that notion,) tendering himself to be disposed 
at his pleasure. 

^ Annal. Eccl. August. Cant. i [Parker's] Antiq, Bri- 

[By this reference I imagine tan. p. 311. ex Tho. Wal- 

Fuller means the Chronicle of singham. 
W. Thorn, where the process "^ Harpsfield Hist. Eccl. Ang. 

against the archbishop is de- p. 446. 

tailed. Twysden, p. J 970. 1 Worthily; see Godwin 

2005.] de Prsesul. p. 102. 



cc 



S40 The Church History book in. 

A.D.-130S. 6. No, quoth the kinir, "I will not be both 

33 Edw. I 

1-* " party and judge, and proceed against you as I . 

^^^jg " might by the common law of the land. I bear 
betwSTthe " ^^'^ respect to your order, whereof you are as 
king and " unworthy BS of my favour : having formerly had 
^^ experience of your malice in smaller matters, 
" when you so rigorously used my chaplains attend- 
" ing on me in their ordinary service beyond the 
seas ; so that though I sent my letters unto you, 
you as lightly regarded what I wrote, as what 
" they pleaded in their own behalf." Winchelsea 
having but one guard for all blows, persisted in his 
submission, desiring (a precedent unparalleled) that 
the king would give him his blessing. No, said 
the king, " it is more proper that you should give 
" me your blessing. But, well, I will remit you to 
your own great master the pope, to deal with you 
according to your deserts"".'* But the archbishop, 
loath belike to go to Bome, and staying longer in 
England than the king's command, and, perchance, 
his own promise, lurked in a convent at Canterbury 
tm fourscore monks were by the king's command 
thrust out of their places for relieving him out of 
their charity ; and were not restored till the afore- 
said archbishop was banished the kingdom". 
Winchelsea 7. Not loug after he appeared before pope Cle- 
favour from mcut the Fifth at Bourdeaux, where having been so 
and^S^ great a stickler for his holiness, (insomuch that his 
present disfavour with the king was originally caused 
by his activity for the pope,) he might rationally 
have expected some courtesy. But though he had 

*» [Parker,] Antiquitates [quoted by Parker, ibid. p. 
Brit. ib. 312.] 

n Annal. Eccl. August. Cant. 






CENT. XIV. of Britain. 241 

used both his hands to scrape treasure for the church a.d. 130c;. 

of Rome, the pope would not lend his least finger to — 

his support, but suspended him from oflSce and 
benefit of his place, till he should clear himself from 
the crime of treason wherewith he was charged- 
Whether done to procure reputation to the justice 
of the court of Rome, where, in public causes, men, 
otherwise privately well deserving, should find no 
more favour there than they brought innocence 
thither; or because (which is most probable) the 
pope loved the archbishopric better than the arch- 
bishop; and knew during his suspension both to 
increase his profit, and improve his power in 
England, by such cunning factors as he employed 
in the business ; namely, William de Testa, and 
Peter Amaline, both strangers, to whom the pope 
committed the sequestration of Canterbury, whilst 
the cause of Winchelsea did as yet depend un- 
determined. 

8. These by papal authority summoned before a si^ai 
them John Salmon bishop of Norwich, for exacting ti^doni"*" 
the first-ftnits of vacant benefices from the clergy of ^^"^'^ 
his diocese. The case was this. Some sixty years *™*^"- 
since, Pandulph, an Italian, and pope's legate, (a 
perfect artist in progging for money,) being bishop 
of Norwich**, pretending his church to be in debt, 
obtained of his holiness the first-fruits of vacant 
benefices in Norfolk and Suffolk to discharge that 
engagement. This grant to him, being but personal, 
local, and temporary, was improved by his successors 
to a constant revenue; yea (covetousness being an 
apt scholar, and profit an easy lesson) this example 
was followed by other English bishops in their 

oHarpsfield Hist. Eccl. Ang. p. 458. 

FULLER, VOL. If, R 



■ -•*<• T — ■ 



.1 ^asOMFy jQ^j III 

'^■'- ^ - -''Uii la-:--:? j«]ki«i ror Lesiihe 
■ -— ^ ■n.^"nHii> iDrt-imur ".uz ihat the 

■r -iitr!!! W'^ereds these 

ri»rr. thai zta^^rallv 

— ■ 

"jLf lEsr-fm-i r ill s:mtittl 
!•: lexr. 5 c ±r-fir jrtus should 

■ 

„^^~ ■ ''-I?-: - r^z*i*zr^i viij :lr hunlen 

- ^^^^^ * *- -' r-i^firtc 1^. -*-_ ^T. tnat 

:.. .>- :: :-- '--^- n. .- -la^. iie Lr^sr : az:-! rhe load 

- — =■ i-: '- ""-^^ >^u?c Tii.-i "'.irr l^Ease mettle to 

^.-i : -f. a:: "U* T - i* vtl: :i^ fv»r parochial 

::^ ii- •** rzaTif^ :- r«cfc ih^ usurpation of 



4 .-."^-r^TLr^. Tiji ^ L^an le^ca. who accordinof 

li - ..- TiJit- -amtr T:^*r 1:1 ^^czjct shelL but departed 

^*t^- ^~*- ■- i>r^»-* c iir: EJ::^::^:: wtalih. complained 

•^ ' - :.> -r^-n* 'i :-: n-f ic&niament^ was called 

• -: ^-.L J'r*r i ^ciLiJii caixlinal sent in his 

— . ;:: 1 :v*^ le .- c*^J::•:fe^l and celebrated a marriage 

»r- -I*:? 'riii-v Li"«"iri aiid Isabel the king of France 

- r.u:j:.^rr 7irtri> the bearing of his charges, 

: . > •u.-'Jiia. rf;xir£«i iweke marks of all cathedrals 

J.-.. • 11 :ac>. iz.c •:^ f«rish churches eightpence out 

. ^ t r^ nari >: :beir yearly revenue. But the king 

:-,a**t: T tr xctcc: with the moiety of his demand. 

:A >I:^ii::ir:e intolerable were the taxes which 
■> Vzc^ oieriry paid to Rome. The poets feign 

>K»-» **" 7-"^=^." Astiqiiitate* " clerum immoderate emun- t 

v-..;.^. • ** geret." Harpsfield, p. 431. 

J uir^ irriS^jvraiitem [Trivet, 345. Walsingham in 

- >^- •---^■a.:: T»::K:i.v in 1308.] 



CKNT. XIV. of Britain, 243 

Arethusa, a river in Armenia, to be swallowed up a. d. 1305 
by the earth, and running many miles under the ^ — ^^ 
ocean, in Sicily (they say) it vents itself up again, from Eng- 
But, without any fiction, the wealthy streams, flow-^*^' 
ing from a plentiful spring in England, did suddenly 
disappear, and being insensibly conveyed in invisible 
channels, not under, but over the sea, were found 
fitr off to arise afresh at Rome, in the pope's trea- 
sury ; where the Italians, though (being themselves 
bred in a clear and subtile climate) they scorned the 
dulness of the wits, and hated the gross air of this 
island, yet hugged the heaviness of the gold thereof; 
this kingdom being one of the best places for their 
profit. Although proud Harding saith^S that the 
pope's yearly gains out of England were but as a 
gnat to an elephant. Oh the overgrown beast of 
Rome's revenues ! 

11. The death of king Edward the First gave a The death 
great advancement to the pope's encroaching. Ar^rof 
worthy prince he was, fixed in his generation betwixt ^^^" 
a weak father and son ; as if made wise and valiant ^^'**- 
by their antiperistasis. Equally fortunate in drawing 
and sheathing the sword, in war and peace ; having 
taught the English loyalty, by them almost for- 
gotten ; and the Welsh subjection, which they never 
learned before. In himself religiously disposed; 
founded the famous abbey of Vale-royal for the 
Cistercians in Cheshire ^ and by will bequeathing 
thirty-two thousand pounds to the holy war. Obe- 
dient, not servile to the see of Rome. A foe to the 
pride, and friend to th^ profession of the clergy: 



qq In Confut. Apolog. [Juelli.] 

^ Camd. Brit, in Cheshire, [p. 461. Trivet, I. 260.] 

R 2 



244 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. 1307. whom he watered with his bounty*, but would not 
£1 LI have to spread so broad as to justle, or grow so high 



" [This is a character far too 
favourable to Edward I., as far 
as concerns his conduct to the 
clergy, who between himself 
and the pope were ground as 
between the upper and the 
nether millstone. Between 
the two there was little to 
choose, they were two evils, 
and both intolerable: neither 
cared in the least for the 
clergy, except so far as it pro- 
moted their own interests. 
Enough has been said of the 
pope in the foregoing pages; 
and if he was paid too much 
of our English coin before, the 
old score has been pretty well 
wiped out by a coin of another 
minting, since the reformation. 
But in what way Edward I. 
" watered the clergy by his 
" bounty" may be seen by the 
following facts. 

In 1293 he fined the arch- 
bishop of York in 4,000 marks, 
" for that he had excommuni- 
*' cated Anthony Beake^ bi- 
" shop of Durham, being then 
" in the king's s^vice, and one 
*' of his council." (Stow's 
Chron. p. 206.) In 1294, 
" there was granted (?) to the 
" king for aid in the wars (in 
" Gascony), the one half of all 

the goods of the clergy, a 

tenth part of the citizens', 
" and a tenth of the commons' 
*' goods. There was in all 
*' levied of the clergy at that 
^* time, to the sum of three- 
" score hundred thousand 
*' pounds, according to the ac- 
'* count, and as it was valued 
" in Gascoigne ; to wit, 8j. 



a 



(t 



•* silver to the pound." (Stow, 
ib.) The same year be " took 
'* into his hands all the priories 
" alien throughout England, 
" with all their lands and 
" goods any way arising, com. 
** mitting the same to officers 
** under him, allowing to every 
** monk eighteen pence the 
" week, and all the surplus of 
'^ their revenues was appointed 
'* towards the charges of the 
*' king's wars, retaining also to 
'* his treasury the pensions or 
" annuities due to the prin- 
" cipal houses. Also in the 
'^ same parliament he obtained 
** again of the clergy and reli- 
'* gious persons a loan of 
*' money to the value of half 
" their goods and lands, ac- 
" cording to the former ex- 
** actions of the tenths, which 
" loan amounted to 100,000/., 
" whereof the abbot of Bury 
*' paid 655/. OS, ii\dr (Stow, 
ib.) The next year *'tbe king 
" caused all the monasteries in 
" England to be searched, and 
'* all the money in them to be 
" brought up to London. He 
*' also seizea into his hands all 
'* their lay fees, because they 
<' refused to pay to him such a 
'< tax as he demanded." (Stow, 
ib.) In 1 296 a papal mandate 
having been published in Eng- 
land, (de non dando aliquid 
laicis,) and the clergy hesi- 
tating in consequence to make 
a subsidy for the king, until 
they had consulted the pope, 
Edward took into his own 
hands all their temporalities; 
and thereupon holding a par- 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 245 

as to overtop the regal authority; djdng in due time a. d. 1507. 
for himself, almost seventy years old, but too soon H — Il-l 
for his subjects, especially for his son, whose giddy 
youth lacked a guide to direct him. In a word, as 
the arm of king Edward the First was accounted 
the measure of a yard, generally received in England, 
so his actions are an excellent model, and a praise- 
worthy platform for succeeding princes to imitate. 

12. Edward his son, by letters to the pope, re- Wincheisea 
quested that Robert Wincheisea might be restored quest of 
to his archbishopric, which was done accordingly, J^ the 
though he returned too late to crown the king;^^*^^^ 
which solemnity was performed by Henry Wood-^!*"^- 
lock, bishop of Winchester. Here let the peaceable 
reader part two contrary reports from fighting to- 
gether, both avowed by authors of credit. Some 
say S Wincheisea, after his return, received his profits 
maimed and mangled, scarce amounting to half; and 
that poor pittance he was fain to bestow to repair 
his dilapidated palace. Others report, his revenues 
not lessened in quantity, and increased in the entire- 
nesSy were paid him all in a lump ; insomuch, that 
hereby (having learned thrift in exile to live of a 
' little) he speedily became the richest of all his pre- 
decessors^; so that he gained by losses ; and it was 
his common proverb, that there is no hurt in adver- 

liament, from which the clergy 1965. See also Godwin, p. 
was excluded, declared all their 101. *' Nos quam foelices," 
estates forfeited. Those who (Godwin innocently ob- 
would not compound, such as serves,) ** quibus datum est 
the archbishop and others, he ** juxta prsescripta legum no- 
treated with the utmost rigour ; " stris rebus in omni libertate 
not only denying them the " ac tranquillitate frui ! '*] 
common necessaries of life^ but ^ Harpsfield^ Hist.Eccl. Ang. 
also interdicting the use of p. 440. 

fire and water to any who ven- ^ Antiq. Brit. p. 313, ex 

tured to relieve them. Thorne, Adamo Murimutensi. 

r3 



246 



The CAmw€k IBtiary 



BOOK III. 



A-D. ijoT.atT wheie theie hath 
if^^l!!: make his fatme sncees 



no iniquily; and many 
an eTidenoe of his fonner 



13. The calamitoas reign of king Edward the 
Second afiwded little histcMj of the choreh, though 
too much of the ccMnnMmwealth except it had heen 
bettCT*. A debaached prince this Edwaid i¥as ; his 
beaatr being the best (not to say onlj) commendable 
thing about him: he had an handsome man-case, 
and better it had been empty with weakness, than 
(as it was) ill-filled with Ticiousness. Pierce Ga- 
Teston first coirupted him^, mangre all the good 
counsel that Robert, archbishop of Canterbury, and 
all his good friends could giro him. And when 



* [Acoording; howeTer, to 
ThcMnas de Im More, the most 
jadicions and accarate historian 
of this period. Pierce de Ga- 
Teston deaenres a fax better 
character than what is giren 
him by the generality of our 
monkish historians, and owes 
all his evil £une to the malice 
and enTT of his opponents. 
De la More thus describes 
him 3 " Erat hie Petrus Italus 
" natione, corpore el^ans, in- 
*' genio acer, moribus curiosus» 
" in re militari satis exerci- 
" tatus ; cujus argumentum, 
*' cum is in Scotia militise prK- 
'* sideret Scotos Talde terruit, 
'* et a praedis et aliis vesaniis 
*^ repressit. Quo, per invidiam 
" eorum qui felices ejus pro- 
" gressus baud libenter vide- 
" runt,revocato invaluit iterum 
*' Scotorum versutia. Regina; 
'* coronationi interfuerunt Ca- 
*' rolus de Valois f rater regis 
'* Franciie et pater Philippi 



'* primi intmaoris, et dux Bri- 
^ tannijt, H. Comes Lucen- 
" burghe postea imperator. 
** Sed coltu facile omnes ex- 
" cellnit et omamentis Petrus: 
'* quare plurimum auxit in se 
'* magnatum invidia." p. 593. 
Of de la More Stowe thus 
speaks in his Chronicle at the 
end of his account of Edward 
II.; '' Thus far out of Thomas 
*' de la More, a worshipful 
" knight that then lived, and 
*' wrote in the French tongue 
*' what he saw with his eyes, 
" or heard credibly reported 
*' by them that saw, and some 
" that were actors. All which 
" was at the said sir Thorn, de 
" la More*s request translated 
'' and more soberly penned in 
•* the Latin tongue by Walter 
'' Baker, alias Swinborne, canon 
" of Osney besides Oxford." 
p. 227. See also Oudinus, III. 

799-] 



C£KT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



247 



Gaveston was killed* and taken away, the kinff'sA.D.ian. 

badness was rather doubled than diminished; ex-- '- — 1 

changing one pander to vice for two, the two Spen- 
cers. In a word, the court was turned tavern, 
stews, stage, play-house ; wherein as many vain and 
wanton comedies were acted before the king in his 
lifetime, so a sad and sorrowful tragedy was acted by 
him at his death. 

14. Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, encouraged The fatal 
by the laziness of king Edward, thought this a fit the English 
time to recover his country, and which the English '" ^^^"^• 
detained from him. Whereupon he regained Ber- a. d. 13 13. 
wick, inroaded England, invaded Ireland. King 
Edward in wrath advanceth against him, with an 
army rather dancing than marching, fitter for a mask 
than a battle: their horses rather trapped than 
armed : in all points it appeared a triumphant army. 



^ [He was sacrificed by the 
treadiery of Aylmer de Valence, 
earl of Pemoroke, to whose 
safe keeping he was committed^ 
and who voluntarily suffered 
Guy, earl of Warwick, "the 
" black dog of Ardern," as he 
was called, to take him prisoner, 
and decapitate the unfortunate 
favourite. De la More, ib. 
Hugh de Spencer was made 
the king's chamberlain in the 
place of Gaveston, 13 13, by 
the general consent of the no- 
bles, because he was disliked 
by the king. " At vero is pru- 
dentia et obsequio haud 
multo post dirempto regis 
animo eum in sui amorem 
facile comnmtavit unde et 
illi [sc. proceres] odio eum 
vel maximo prosequuti sunt. 
Hujus Hugonis pater senex. 



«c 



t( 



(« 



t( 



<( 



«» 



<« 



tt 



t( 



(t 



(( 



" adhuc superstes erat, magnee 
*' probitatis miles, consilio 
providus, armis strenuus, cu- 
jus confusionem et ignomi. 
" niosum finem accumulavit 
*' amor naturalis sed disordi- 
natus erga filium suum cor- 
pore formosissimum, spiritu 
*' superbissimum, actu flagitio. 
" sissimum, quem spiritus am- 
*' bitionis et cupiditatis a vi- 
" duarum et orphanorum ex- 
" hseredatione in necem no- 
'* bilium regis praecipitium, 
'* et sui atque patris interitum 
** praecipitavit." De la More, 
594. The same writer after- 
wards says of him, " Talia de 
*' Hugone fateor mala, sed non 
" adeo, quin vulgus garrulus 
" pejora studuit fingendo de- 
" monstare et malefacta dete- 
'* riora rcddere." 595 ] 

B 4 



248 The Church Histofy book iiu 

A.D. 1314- saTe that no field as vet was fought by them. Thus, 

-! 1-^ excluding all influence of diTine ProYidenee, and 

concluding it was fortune^s duty to &Tour them, at 
Stirling^ they bid the Scots battle, wherein ten 
thousand of our men are bv our own authors con- 
fessed to be slain. There fell the flower of the 
English nobiUty, the king with a few hardly saving 
themselves by flight. TIius, as malleus Scotorum^ 
the hammer, or mauler of the Scots, is written on 
the tomb of king Edward the First in Westminster; 
incus Scoiorumy the anvil of the Scots, might as 
properly be written on the monument (had he any) 
of Edward the Second. 
Nii»««- 13. But leaving these fights, we proceed to other 
nmc^dtt polemical digladiations, more proper for our pen; 
Str namely* the disputes of schoolm^i, which in this 
king's leign were heightened to perfection ; formerly 
those wer^ termed scAolastici who in the schools 
were rhetoricians, making therein declamatory ora- 
tions. Such exereises ceasing in this age, the term 
wu§ translated to signify those who busied them- 
selves in controveisial divinity, though some will 
have them so caUed fiom Soholion, a commentary, 
their studies being generally nothing else than illus- 
trations of the text of Peter Lombard, the master of 
the sentences. Take them here together at one 
view, intending to resume them again in their several 
characters^ 



7 [Tke failtle of Strireliii or and the taking of Berwick 
Sterling happened in 1313. "3 '7-] 
Tke inTasion of Ireland i ^ i ^. 



CEKT. XIV. 



of Britain, 



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290 



Tke Chureh HiMiory 



BOOK in. 



A. p. 1314. Besides many other schoolmen of inferior note, 
1 — ![U1 which we pass by in silence; now we may safely 
dare all Christendom besides to shew so many emi- 
nent school-divines, bred within the compass of so 
few years ; insomuch that it is a truth what a foreign 
writer* saith, Scholastica thedogia, ab Anglis, et in 
A nglia^ stnnpsit exordium^ fecit incrementum, pervenit 
ad per/ectiojiefH. And although Italy falsely boasteth 
tliat Britain had her Christianity first from Rome, 
England may truly maintain, that irom her (imme- 
diately by France) Italy first received her school- 
divinity. 
Alex. Haiet 16. Of thcso schoolmeu, Alexander Hales goeth 
Mid fimiX the first, master to Thomas Aquinas and Bonaven- 
^' ture, whose livery in some sort the rest of the 

schoolmen may be said to wear, insisting in his foot- 
steps. At the command of pope Innocent the 
Fourth he wrote the body of all school-divinity in 
four volumes**. He was the first Franciscan who 



A Alexander Minutianus in 
Epistola. 

^ [Summa universie Theo- 
logio: quadri partita, Basilese 
1502, in fol. and several 
editions subsequently. This 
work was completed by Wil- 
liam de Meliton and others in 
1252. See Wadding's Annales 
ad an. 1 245, and Oudinus, III. 
217. Hardly a statement is 
advanced in this paragraph 
(§.16.) which has not been con- 
troverted, owing to the mutual 
jealousies of the different or- 
ders. According to a very 
ancient work, entitled Firma- 
mcnium trium Ordinum, pub- 
lished about 1512^ besides 
this Summa, Hales \vrote a 



commentary on the scriptures ; 
" super totam Bibliam^ tarn 
*' vetus quam etiam novum 
'* Testamentum, ad longuro, 
*' nihil dimittens indiscussum, 
•' opus certe multum prolixum 
" ac laboriosum." (f. xlii.) 

2. Super Magistrum sententia- 
rum ad litteram, being the 
first commentary of the kind. 

3. Compendium Theohgtce, di- 
vided into six books. 4. De 
Sacramento pcenilentus. 5. Ma- 
riale magnum, in six books. 
6. Super regulam frainim ML 
norum, Bonaventura is the only 
person mentioned in the Firma- 
mentum as having studied under 
Hales; and even this is denied 
by Oudinus, III. p. 133. But 



CKVT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



251 



ever took the deffree of doctor in the university, a. D.1314. 

*i Gdnir IT 

(who formerly counted the height of a degree incon 1—1 

sistent with the humility of their order,) as appeareth 
by the dose of his epitaph. 

(Factus) egenorum, fit primus Doctor eorum. 

So great an honourer of the Virgin Mary, that he 
never denied such who sued to him in her name ^: 
as since our Mr. Fox is said never to have denied 
any who begged of him for Jesus Christ. 

17. Roger Bacon succeeds. O what a sin is it to »««» ac- 
he more learned than one's neighbours in a barbarous conjurer, 
age ! Being excellently skilled in the mathematics, 
(a wonder-working art, especially to ignorant eyes,) 
he is accused for a conjurer by Hieronymus de 
Esculo, minister-general of his order, and afterwards 
pope, by the name of Nicholas the Fourth. The 



«< 



tC 



Thomas de Aquino or Aqui- 
nas» as it seems, was never his 
pupil. The mistake may not 
improhahly have arisen from 
this expression in the same 
work, ih. " Sicut omnes 
'^ doctores et scrihentes super 
^* sententias communiter hunc 
doctorem (de Hales) se- 
quuntur^ ut patet intuenti- 
" bus singulariter, sanctus 
*^ Thomas de Aquino ipsum 
'' in omnibus suis scriptis se- 
" quitur tanquam discipulus 
^' magistrum, multaque ab eo 
'* pie furatur ; maxime in se- 
** cunda secundae^ ut dicit ma- 
" gister Joannes Gerson et 
** Stefphanus Brulifer, sicut 
*' etiam clarius patet intuenti- 
** bus amborum summas.*' 
Hales died on the 27th of 
August, 1245) and was buried 
in the convent of the Mino- 



rites at Paris, in the chapel of 
St. Francis, " inter cruciiixum 
** navis ecclesiae et chorum." 
In the same work, at f. ix, are 
inserted the two inscriptions 
to his memory engraven on 
his monument, of which Fuller 
has quoted one line. In the 
second of these he is called 
" archelevita Anglorum : " 
which I imagine means, an 
archdeacon. Great confusion 
exists in all the accounts of 
the writings of Hales, which 
many modern writers have 
helped to increase. And yet 
if any, he, of all others of the 
schoolmen, deserves a better 
fate. Time however will do 
him full, though it will be 
but tardy, justice.] 

c [Pitt's de Script. Ang. 

P- 3 » 4-1 



ass 



The Church History 



300X0. 



A.D. 1314* best is, this Hieronymus before he was a pope "waa 

'- — ^not infallible, and therefore our Bacon might h^ 

scandalized by him : however he was committed to 
prison at Rome by pope Clement the Fomth, and 
remained in durance a considerable time, before his 
own innocence, with his friends' endeavours, could 
procure his enlargement. 
Many Ba- 18. For mine own part, I behold the name of Bacon 
make a in Oxford, uot as of an individual man, but corpo* 
^'**°^*^* ration of men ; no single cord, but a twisted cable 
of many together. And as all the acts of strong 
men of that nature are attributed to an Hercules; 
all the predictions of prophesying women to a sibyll : 
so I conceive all the achievements of the Oxonian 
Bacons in their liberal studies are ascribed to one, as 
chief of the name. And this in effect is confessed 
by the most learned and ingenious orator of that 
university*. Indeed we find one Robert Bacon who 
died anno 1248, a learned doctor; and Trithemius 
styleth John Baconthorpe plain Bacon, which addeth 
to the probability of the former assertion®. However 
this confounding so many Bacons in one hath caused 
antichronismes in many relations. For how could 
this Bacon ever be a reader of philosophy in Brasen- 
Nose college, founded more than one hundred years 
after his death ? so that his brazen head (so much 



d Wake's Rex Platonicus> 
p. 209, 210. 

c [See Wood*s Antiquities 
of Univ. of Oxford, p. 136. 
Wadding's Annales ad an. 1 266 
and 1278^ and the list of his 
works quoted by Bale, Script. 
IV. §.55. But Robert Bacon 
and John Baconthorpe are 



clearly distinct persons from 
Roger Bacon ; the former 
living considerably before, the 
latter considerably after Roger 
Bacon. Besides that, Bacon- 
thorpe was a Carmelite, and 
not a Franciscan. Of Bacon- 
thorpe, see below, p. 255.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 253 

spoken of, to speak) must make time past to be a. d. 13 14. 
again, or else these inconsistencies will not be recon- 1 — ^ — 1- 
oiled. Except any will salve it with the prolepsis of 
Brasen-Nose hall, formerly in the place where the 
college is now erected. I have done with the Oxford 
Bacons, only let me add, that those of Cambridge, 
father and son, Nicholas and Francis, the one of 
Bennet, and the other of Trinity college, do hold 
{absit invidia) the scales of desert, even against all 
of their name in all the world besides. 

19. John Dims Scotus succeeds, who some will Dum Soo- 

tllB« WuV SO 

have called Scotus, ob profundissimam dicendi obscu- caUed. 
ritatem^i from his profound obscurity in writing. 
Indeed there was one Heraclitus, to whom cognomen 
Scotinon fedt orationis obscuritasfs, but others con- 
ceive him so called, either from Scotland his country, 
or John Scott his fether. Nor was he called Duns^ 
as some will have it contractedly from DomimcSy but 
from the place of his nativity, though three king- 
doms earnestly engage to claim him for their 
countryman. 

England. 
It is thus written at the end of his manuscript Thueeking- 
works in Merton College in Oxford, whereof hedaimtohii 
was fellow; Ea^plidt lectura subtilis in universitate 
Parisiensi doctoris Joannis Duns nati in quadam 
viUula parochicB de Emildon vocata Dunston, in comi" 
tatu Northumhrice^ pertinente domui scholarium de 
Merton haU in Oa^oniaK 



^ Sixtus Senensis^ [Biblioth. ^ Quoted by Camden in his 

I. 417. ed. 1762.] Brit. Northnmberland^ [p- 

g Seneca in Epist. [XII. 678.] 
p. 282. ed. 1633.] 



fM Tkt Ckmwdk iBaimy book in. 



1 1 J14. 

Iv.fL 



Althcngh John ScoC di w cm bled himself sm Vug- 
KrfniBui, to find the more &Toiir in Meiton ooHege, 
lifing in an age wherein rrael wan be i w ixl Ei^[laiid 
and Scotland, ret hi« tomb cfeefed at Cologne is 
bold to tell the truth, mhe r eon this epitaqih': 

Scotia me gnmic Anglia soseepit. 
GaDia edoeuit, Crermania tenet. 

Be$^ides, the very name of Scotos aroweth him to be 

a Scotchman. 

Ireiand. 

He is called Joannes Duns, by abbreviation for 
DunefuiSf that is, bom at DouneK an episcopal see 
in Ireland, where Patiicins, Dnbiicios, and St. Co- 
Inmba lie interred. And it is notoriously known to 
critics, that Scotus signifieth an Irishman in the 
most ancient exception thereof. 

I doubt not but the reader will give his yerdiet, 
tliat the very Scotiety of Scotus belongeth to Eng- 
land as his native country, who being bom in 
Northumberland, which kingdom in the Saxon hept- 
archy extended from Humber to Edinburgh Frith ; 
it was a facile mistake for foreigners to write him a 
Scotchman on his monument. As for the name of 
Scotus, it is of no validity to prove him that country- 
man; as a common surname amongst us, as some 
four years since, when the Scotch were enjoined to 
depart this land, one Mr. English in London was 



I Archbishop Spotswood, in [prefixed to his edition of 

his History of the Church of Duns Scoti Qusest. in V. Lib. 

Scotland, [p. 54. ed. 1677.] Sententiarum, t. I. ed. 1620.] 

J Hugh Cavel, in Vita Scoti, 



CBKT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



^55 



then the most considerable merchant of the Scotch a. d. 1314. 
nation. The said manner of Scotus his death is suf- — IL-1 
ficiently known, who being in a fit of a strong 
apoplexy, was by the cruel kindness of his over- 
officious friends buried whilst yet alive, and recover- 
ing in the grave, dashed out his brains against the 
coffin, affording a large field to such wanton wits in 
their epigrams, who could make sport to themselves 
on the sad accident of others'^. 

20. I had almost overseen John Baconthorpe, Low, but 
being so low in stature, as but one remove from aconthorpe. 
dwarf, of whom one saith, 

Ingenio magnus, corpore parvus erat^ 

His wit was tall, in body small. 

Insomuch that corpus non tulisseU quod ingenitim 



k [Scotus died a natural 
death in 1308. This fabulous 
account of it is completely re- 
futed by Wadding in the Life 
prefixed by him to his edition 
of the works of Duns Scotus. 
Lugd. 1639. See also his An- 
nates Minorum^ t. VI. 40 sq. 
and 107 sq. ed. Rome. Alex. 
Natalis, Hist. Eccl. t. VII. 
p. 142, ed. 1731* who has given 
a brief summary from Wad- 
ding. Hugh. Cavelli Apologia 
contra Bzovium, chap, i o.] 

1 Johannes Trissa Nemau- 
sensis in libro de viris illustri- 
bus. [This and the following 
reference from Papiensis are 
from Bale^ who has the fol- 
lowing remark upon John Ba- 
con thorpe : '^ et magnam ab eo 

facto famam per litteras sibi 

peperitj ut fusius narrat Ja- 
" cobus Calcus Papiensis in 
" opere suo de Henrici octavi 



c< 



<« 



" Anglorum regis divortio. — 

*' Statura quidem pusilla fuit 

'* sed magno ingenio atque 

" eruditione ut habet Johannes 

'• Trissa Nemausensis in libro 

*' suo * De Viris illustribus/ 

"juxta illud vetus poetae 

*' dictum, 

^ Ingenio magnus, corpore parvus 
erat.* " Bale Cent. V. §. i. 

After considerable search I 
was unable to find either of 
the writers here referred to, 
until Dr. Bandinel pointed out 
to me the treatise of John 
Trissa here mentioned, among 
Bale's MS. Collections in the 
Bodleian, Seld. 41. It is en- 
titled : " Catalogus Parhi- 
'* siensium Doctorum quo- 
*^ rundam ordinis Carmeli 
** per Johannem Trissam Ne- 
^* mausensem Carmelitam a Jo- 
'^ hanne Bareto Anglo revisus^ 
'* limatus et tersus." Bale 



25^ 



The Church History 



BO(« nr. 



\.T>.i $14- prottiliL **hi8 body could not bear the books which 

7 Edw, II. 

1—1 " his brain had brought forth.** Coining to Rome 

(being sent for by the pope) he was once hissed at 
in a public disputation for the badness forsooth of 
his Latin and pronunciation °^; but indeed because 
he opposed the pope's power in dispensing with 
marriages, contrary to the law of God, whose judg- 
ment was afterwards made use of by the defenders 
of the divorce of king Henry the Eighth". 

21. William Ocham sided with Lewis of Bavaria 
against the pope, maintaining the temporal power 
above the spiritual; he was fain to fly to the 
emperor for his safety, saying unto him, 

Defcndo me gladio, et ego te defendam verbo. 

Defend me with thy sword, and I will defend thee 
with my word. 



)duuna 

dffim. 

criftlift. 



has slightly altered the quo- 
tation, as appears by this ma- 
nuscript. To this work John Ba- 
ret has added the lives of some 
writers omitted by Trissa, and 
among the rest that of Trissa 
himself in the following words: 
*' Johannes Trissa Callus, ge- 
** nerosus, de provincia Nar- 
" bonee et de Conventu Ne- 
^' mausi, theologicse laurese 
'* Parhisii candidatus, suse 
" doctrinae specimen exhibi- 
** turus accedit, multiplici vir- 
'* tutum litterarumque ornatus 
" congerie. Futiirum hunc 
*^ sanctse sedis antistitem im- 
" matura mors impedivit. E- 
" didit iste glossemata (quas 
*^ legit Parhisius) in sententias 
" et in bibliam. Cathalogum 
" quoque composuit de magi- 
" stris Parhisii et de Carmeli 
" pastoribus primis, atque Ca- 



" pitulorum canones. Plura 
*' adhuc scripsisset si non oh- 
** stitisset mors emula. Non 
" sine multorum ejulatu mor- 
" tuus est venerabilis iste pater 
" Nemausi, anno Domini 
" M.CCC.LXIII. 5a die Julii, 
** longa alioqui vita dignissi- 
*« mus." 

Of Baconthorpe, or de Ba- 
con, (as he is more correctly 
called,) or Joannes Anglicus, 
(as he is frequently called,) 
see Alegre, Paradisus Carmeli- 
ticus,p.294, and the preface to 
his works by Franciscus de 
Medicis.] 

™ Bale, [Scriptores, V. §. i.] 
n Jacobus Calcus Papien- 
sis. [" James Calcus Papiensis 
" in opere suo de Henrici 8vi 
" Anglorum regis divortio.** 
Bale, p. 382.] 







Ar U& ^f^raaEKW ik> ^i»^ 



Aed of lie fiapat x Xocc&suKpcoa rszsc 



: and aihhoG^ii aes j^ iQ 
\uB poWc wtmSmg he vas hoc eome to tlie fafe^ ^ivise 
liieieoC (si> Proper far Bortafitr.^ we mir i^kuiiahlT 
believe he lad senMdr cmmeiited dhnn?<«i in lib 
prhrmie medhaticMB. ITfal a wCTifr dtw Aiintf m ikuh/^ 
mMAM^ file «W. flW liov «iafr Ji^ivr A> «aiijv. 

S3. ThomB Bkadvaidme bringech up the ivttniWjM 
thoDgli in kaimng' and {Metr (if not sQpmor> equal 'Sri^iiniju 
to any of the rest, witness his woithv book a^sainst 
Pelagianism, to aasnt the fieeness of God's grace in 
man's conTeraon, which he justly intituleth« TV 
coMisaDei^j "• of God's cause;" for as God is a second 
in eTeiT good cause, so he is a principal in this« 
wherein his own honour is so neariy concenunL 
And though the P^mist saith, Plead MiW oirii 
coMige O Lard ; yet in this age, wherein miracles are 
ceased, Grod pleadeth his cause, not in his person* 
but by the proxy of the tongues, and pens, hands 



P [Pope John XXII. The 
Ronuuiists said of him ; '^Nul- 
" las UDquam scriptor S. Ma- 
*' tri ecclesiae adeo se simul 
** amore et odio dignum red- 
" didit, ac iste Occamus. 
" Dam theologica scribit nemo 
" melius ; dum contra eccle- 
" siam, insolentior nemo." See 

FULLEtl, VOL. ir. 



Fabricius Biblioth. Lat. Med. 
^vi, VII. 158. 

q [Bale's Scriptores V. §. 84, 
See also Echard Scriptores Do. 
minicani, i. p. 629.] 

r [Edited by sir Henry Sa- 
vile, and printed at London in 
1618.3 



s 



258 The Church UMory book m. 

A.D. i3i4«and hearts of his servants. This Bradwardine urad 

7 £dw. II. 

'- — 1 afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, and bow highly 

esteemed, let Chaucer tell you. 

* 

But I ne cannot boult it to the bren. 
As can the holy doctor St. Austin, 
Dr. Boece, or the bishop Bfadwardin'* 

This testimony of Chaucer by the exact computation 
of time, written within forty years after Bradwar- 
dine's death, which addeth much to his honour, that, 
in so short a time his memory was in the peaceable, 
possession of so general a veneration, as to be joined 
in company with St. Augustine and Boethius, two 
such emment persons in their several capacities. 
Schoolmen 24. The schoolmeu principally employed them- 
J^J^"* selves in knotty and thorny questions of controversial 
difficulties, divinity; indeed as such who live in London, and. 
like populous places, having but little ground for 
their foundations to build houses on, may be said to 
enlarge the breadth of their houses in height; I 
mean increasing their room in many stories one 
above another ; so the schoolmen in this age, lacking 
the latitude of general learning and languages, 
thought to enlarge their active minds by mounting 
up. So improving their small bottom with towering 
speculations, though some of things mystical that 
might not, more of things difficult that could not, 
most of things curious that need not be known 
unto us. 
Excuses for 25. Their Latin is generally barbarous, counting 
iJ^tin. any thing eloquent that is expressive, going the 
nearest way to speak their own notions, though 
sometimes trespassing on grammar, abusing if hot 

8 The Nonnes Preestes tale [v. 15247.] 



<Jent. xiv. of Britain, S69 

breaking Priscian's head therein*: some impute thisA.D.1314. 
their bald and threadbare language to a design that ^ 
no vermin of equivocation should be hid under the 
nap of their words ; whilst others ascribe it to their 
want of change, and their poverty in learning, to 
procure better expressions. 

26. Yet these schoolmen agreed not amongst Their se- 
themselves in their judgments. For Burley being vfsions hi 
scholar to Scotus, served him as Aristotle did Plato J'"^*^®"*' 
his master, maintaining a contrary faction against 

him. Ocham his scholar, father of the nominals, 
opposed Scotus the founder of the reals ; which two 
Actions divided the schoolmen betwixt them ; Holcot 
being a Dominican, stiffly resisted the Franciscans 
about the conception of the Virgin Mary, which 
they would have without any original sin. How- 
ever the papists, when pressed that their divisions 
mar their unity ^ (a mark of the church whereof they 
boast so much,) evade it, by pleading that these 
points are not de fide^ only in the outskirts of 
religion, and never concluded in any council to be 
the articles of faith. 

27. All of these schoolmen were Oxford, most au Oxford, 
Morton college men. As the setting up of an ton college, 
eminent artist in any place of a city draws chapmen 

unto him to buy his wares, and apprentices to learn 
his occup^ion. So after Roger Bacon had begun 
school-ditinity in Merton college, the whole gang 
and genius of that house successively applied their 
studies thereunto ; and many repaired thither from 
all parts of the land for instruction in that nature. 
Meantime Cambridge men were not idle, but other- 

* Opus operatum. 



260 The Church History book hi. 

A.v. 1314. wise employed, more addicting themselves to preach- 
y Edw. II. .^^ whereof though the worid took not so much 
notice, positive divinity not making so much noise as 
controversial, (where men engage more earnestness,) 
yet might be more to God's glory, and the saving of 
the souls of men. 
Why 28. Some will wonder, seeing school-divinity was 

J^*J^' so rife in Oxford in this age, for some hundred years 
^J^ together, viz. from towards the end of Henry's to 
after this the end of Edward's reign, both the third of their 
names,) how the study thereof, should sink so 
suddenly in that university^ which afterwards pro- 
duced not such eminent men in that kind. But 
hereof several reasons may be assigned : 

i. The wars betwixt York and Lancaster soon 
after began; a controversy indeed, which silenced 
school-velitations, students being much disheartened 
with those martial discords. 

ii. Once in an age the appetite of an univeraty 
alters as to its diet in learning, which formerly filled 
(not to say surfeited) with such hard questions, for 
variety sake, sought out other employments. 

iii. The sparks of scholars' wits, in school-divinity, 
went out for want of fuel in that subject, grown so 
trite and threadbare, nothing could be but what had 
been said of the same before. Wherefore fine wits 
found out other ways to busy themselves. 

iv. Only information of the brain, no benefit to 
the purse, accrued by such speculations, which made 
others in after-ages to divert their studies, a qiuBstUh 
nibtiSy ad qtuBstum^ from metaphysical queries to 
case-divinity, as more gainftil and profitable; best 
enabling them for hearing confessions, and propor- 
tioning penance accordingly. 



CENT. XIV. of Britain, 861 

Since the reformation, school-divinity in both theA.D. 1314. 
universities is not used (as anciently) for a sole pro- 1 — ^ — .' 
fession by itself to engross all a man's life therein, 
but only taken as a preparative quality to divinity ; 
discreet men not drowning, but dipping their minds . 
in the study thereof ^ 

28. Return we now to the commonwealth which The sad 
we left bad, and find amended, as an old sore with- of^E^^^d 
out a plaster in cold weather; king Edward rather *"^ ^^"^ 
wilfiil than weak, (if wilftdness be not weakness, and 
sure the same effects are produced by both, ruin and 
destruction,) slighted his queen's company, and such 
a bed if left (where beauty without grace) seldom 
standeth long empty. Queen Isabel blinded with 
fiiry, mistook the party who had wronged her, and 
revengeth her husband's faults on her own con- 
science, living incontinently with Roger Mortimer ; 
a man martial enough, and of much merit otherwise, 
save that an harlot is a deep pit, therein invisibly to 
bury the best deserts. The two Spencers ruled all 
at pleasure, and the king was not more forward to 
bestow favours on them, as they free to deal affronts 
to others their superiors in birth and estate. Thus 
men of yesterday have pride too much to remember 
what they were the day before ; and providence too 
little to foresee what they may be to-morrow. The 
nobility (then petty kings in their own countries) 
disdained such mushrooms should insult over them ; 
and all the Spencers' insolencies being scored on the 
king's account, no wonder jf he (unable to discharge 
his own engagements) was broken by suretyship for 
others. 

29. I find it charged on this king, that he suffered King Ed- 
the pope to encroach on the dignity of the crown, to cused for 

s 3 



96ft The Church History of Britain. book ni. 

A.D. 1314. the great damage, and more dishonour of the 
I — II — 1 nation^ Indeed his father left him a fair stake, and 
hispn^ SI winning hand, (had a good gamester had the 
^[*®^® playing thereof,) having recovered some of his privi- 
leges from the papal usurpation, which since it seems 
his son had lost back again, though the particulars 
thereof in history do not so plainly appear. Only it 
is plain, that to support himself, and supply his ne- 
cessities, he complied with the clergy, (a potent 
party in that age,) favourably measuring out the 
causes of their cognizances ; for although in the 
reign of his father an hedge was made by an act in 
that nature, betwixt the spiritual and temporal 
courts, yet now a ditch (a new act) was added to the 
former scene. So that hereafter (except vnlfuUy) 
they could not mutually trespass on each other^s 
jurisdictions. 

* [See however the Fcsdera, I. 617.] *'■ 



BICHADO SBYMERE-, 

NECE88ARI0 MEO. 

Inter amiaim meum et necestarium hoc pono discriminis, 
quod file ad bene este, Mc ad meum esse quodammodo 
requiratur. Qfio nomine iu miki ea ealutandus, qui sine 
te plane mancus mihi videor. Tua enim artifici dextra, 
uaua sum, per iolum hoc opus in scutis gentili/iis depin' 
gendis. Made, vir ingenue, ac natales tuos, generosos 
taiie, novo splendore iUusiriores reddilo. 

■OLLEGES yet were few, and students A.D.131& 
\ now many in Oxford : whereupon ^ *' ' 
Walter Stapleton, bishop of Exeter, gf^^; 
founded and endowed one therein byf? jj^^ 
the name of Stapleton's inn, since supieum. 
called Exeter college''. This bishop was one of 
high birth and large bounty, being said to have 

■ [Anns. Or, two angels' his coat, was probably a third 
wings conjoined Had inverted, son of that family, 
gules, on a chief sable three Hanford near Pimperoe is. 
martlets argent, a mullet for still the seat of Henry Sey- 
difference. This is the coat of mour, esq,] 
Seymere or Seymour of Han- ^ [See Wood's History of 
ford, county of Dorset, and Colleges, &c, p. 104. Accord- 
according to the visitation of ing to whom Stapteton's-hall 
that county in 1633, n-&» then and Hart-hall were the same 
■o borne by sir Robert Sey- places ; bot Mr. Stapleton, dis. 
mere, one of the barons of the satisfied with the original site, 
exchequer, who married a removed his foundation to a 
daughter of sir William Fitt more convenient one, and so 
of Westminster. This Richard founded the present Exeter 
Severe, from the mullet in college.] 
S4 




^64 



The Church History 



BOH III. 



A.D. 1 316. 
9£dw. II. 



Who after, 
wards was 
barbarously 
murdered. 



SirWiUiam 
Petre his 
bounty. 



expended a year's revenues of his (then rich) bishopric 
in the solemnity of his instalment. He also fomided 
Hart-hall in Oxford. But oh the difference betwixt 
the elder and younger brother, though sons to the 
same father ! the one carrying away the whole in- 
heritance, whilst the other sometimes hath httle 
more than himself left unto him, as here this hall is 
altogether unendowed. 

2. This worthy bishop had an unworthy and un- 
timely death some ten years after. For being lord 
treasurer, and left by the king in his absence to 
govern the then mutinous city of London, the citi- 
zens, not without encouragement from the queen, 
furiously fell upon him, and in Cheapside most bar- 
barously butchered him, and then, as hoping to bray 
their murder with his body, huddled him obsciirelj 
into a hole^. But afterward, to make his ghost 
some reparation, and stop the clamour of the cleig]^ 
the queen ordered the removmg and interring of his 
body and his brother's, a valiant knight slain on the 
same account, in the cathedral of Exeter. One 
would wonder this bishop was not made a martyr 
and sainted in that age, save that his suffering was 
of civil concernment, and not relating to religion^. 

3. This house hath since found two eminent bene- 
factors, first, sir William Petre, (bom of honest 



n 
<( 
(( 

<( 



c [Thos. de la More, p. 599.] 
d '♦ [His ita se hahentibus 
[a. 1326.] vulgus Londini re- 
ginae et Rogero de Mortuo- 
mari volens complacere bonae 
memoriae Dominum Wal- 
terum episcopum Exon : 
decimo quinto Octobris in 
medio civitatis furiosae cap- 
tum decapitavit; et quosdam 



' etiam alios, ea sola causa 
' quod regis ministerio fideli- 
' ter adhaeserunt, atrociter ne^ 

* cevere. Caput vero episoopi 

* reginae apud Gloverniam sao 
^ exercitui incumbent!^ at 

* sacriiicium Deo et benepla- 
' citum obtulerint/' De k 

More, p. 599. This is partly 
confirmed by Avesbury, p. 5.] 



3CICMT. XIV. of Britain, 965 

pw^itage in Exeter,) principal secretary to four sue- a.d. 1316. 
ii&BAye kings and queens. One who in ticklish and 2. — !!j — I 
taming times did good to himself, got a great estate, 
injurious to none that I ever heard or read of, but 
courteous to many, and eminently to this college, 
wherein he bestowed much building, and augmented 
it with eight fellowships^. 

4. The other, George Hake will ^, doctor of divinity, Dr. Hake- 
late rector thereof, who though married and having this chapd. 
children, (must it not be a quick and large fountain, 
which besides filling a pond had such an overflovring 
stream ?) bestowed more than one thousand pounds 

in building a beautiful chapel. This is he who 
wrote the learned and religious " Apology for Divine 
** Providence," proving that the world doth not decay. 
Many begin the reading thereof with much pre- 
judice, but few end it without full satisfaction, con- 
verted to the author's opinion by his unanswerable 
arguments. 

5. This college consisteth chiefly of Cornish and Western 

men here 
most 

e [He was likewise a con- ** Declaration of the providence P"*?*''' 

siderable benefactor to All- ** of God in the government 

Souls college.] *' of the world," proving, in 

^ [He was the son of John opposition to some passages 
Hakewill, a merchant of Exeter, advanced by bishop Goodman 
and born in the parish of St. in his " Fall of Man," that the 
Mary Arches. At first a com. world does not decay. Though 
moner of St. Alban hall, inclined to the low church 
afterwards fellow of Exeter party, he suffered in the great 
collie, and shortly after rebellion, was driven from the 
archdeacon of Surrey. About rectory of Exeter college, and 
the year 16 16 he fell into retired to Staunton near Barn- 
some troubles for his zeal staple in Devonshire, and there 
in opposing the Spanish match, died in 1649. See besides 
He was a writer of very con- Wood, Lloyd's Memoirs, p. 
siderable talent, but the best of 540. Fuller's Worthies, p. 280. 
his works (which are enume- Goodman's Court of king ' 
rated by Wood, Athenae, II. James, I. p. 365.] 
p. 124.) is his '* Apology or 



S66 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



0.1316. Devonshire men, the gentry of which latter, queen 
— '• — '• Elizabeth used to say, were courtierB by their birtt 
And as these western men do bear away the bell 
for might and sleight in wrestling, so the scholars 
here have always acquitted themselves with credit 
in paUestra literaria. The rectors of this house 
anciently were annual (therefore here omitted) fixed, 
but of latter years to continue the term of their lives. 



Rectort, 



Bishops. 



1566. John Neale. 
1570. Robert Newton. 
1578. ThcGlasier. 
i.;92. Tho. Holland. 
1611. John Prideaux. 
1642. George Hakewill. 
I 1649. [John] Conant. 



1641. John Pri- 
deaux, bishop of 
Worcester. 

1641. Tho. Win. 
niff, bishop c€ 
Lincoln, ir 



Benefactors. hemmed \ 



Edmund Stafford, 
bishop of Exeter. 

Mr.John Peryam, 
alderman of Ex- 
eter. 

Sir John Ackland, 
knight, expend- 
ing (besides 
other bene£eM> 
tions) 800/. in 
building the 
haU. 



Judge 

ridge. 
OeoigeHi 
John Pri( 
Sir Simon 

kerviL 
Dr. Vduain. 
Nadi. 
Nath.Nfl 
Geoiige 



So that lately therein were maintained, one rector, 
twenty-three fellows, a bible-clerk, two pensioners, 
servants, commoners, and other students, to the 
number of two hundred. 
B king's 6. Clergymen began now to complain that the 
wrer to ^^.y judgos intrenched on their privileges, and there- 
P^i^^'fore they presented a petition to the king in his 
parliament at Lincoln, requesting the redress of six- 
teen grievances. To most of them the king returned 
a satisfactory answer, and so qualified his denials to 
the rest, that they could not but content any reason- 
able disposition. 

f I am informed that Dr. not seen it. [I have never been 

Prideaux, in a dedication to able to discover this sermon.] 
one of his ser mons, hath reck- ? [Twenty bishops to the 

oned all the worthy writers of year 1756 are mentioned bj 

this house, but as yet I have Wood.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain, ft&7 

7. These concessions of the kinff were digested a. d. 131 6. 

- ®. _ ® 9Edw.11. 
into laws, and are pnnted at larffe m the statutes 

Made a 

known by the title of Articuli Clein. Whereon sir printed 
Edward Coke, in the second part of his Institutes, under the 
hath made no less learned than large commentary . ^^^^^ 
So that though, the law* of circumspecte agatis had ^''^• 
stated this difference, yet it seems this statute (as 
circumspectius agatis) was conceived very requisite. 

8. Moreover, these statutes did not so clearly Yet the 

t decide the difference betvidxt the spiritual and between the 
fc temporal jurisdictions, but that many contests hap- du^o"|J^*" 
^ pened afterwards betwixt them ; no longer ago than JfJ^u^"' 
Y in the fifth of king James, when the doctors of the 
commons under Richard Bancroft, archbishop of 
^ Canterbury, their general, opposed the judges about 
Y- the indeterminable controversies of prohibitions. Add 
hereunto, that the clergy claimed to themselves the 
most favourable interpretation of all statutes in their 
own behalf, whilst the temporal judges (in the not 
sitting of parliaments) challenged that privilege to 
themselves. 

9. The most lasting monument of the memory of a.d. 1324. 
woful king Edward the Second, was the building of le^ b^it 
Oriel college in Oxford *". Indeed some make him, ^^^^^ j^^ 
and others Adam de Brom, his almoner, founder ^«*^"^- 
thereof*, and both perchance truly, the king allowing, 

his almoner issuing money for the building and en- 
dovdng thereof. Others will have it, that his almoner 
persuaded him on conscientious principles to this good 
work, pertinently alleging and pressing this instance, 
to prove that the king's nature was not bad in itself, 

h [Formerly called St.Mary's served in a chapel called after 
the Virgin. Wood, p. 122.] liis name; now part of St. 

i [His memory is still pre- Mary's church.] 



268 The Church History book iil 

A.D. 1 314* but too yielding to the impressions of others. Now 

whereas the other alms of this king were perishing, 

as relieving only poor for the present; these, as 

more lasting, have done good to many generations. 

Query 10. I meet with no satis&ctory reason of the 

name name which some will have to contain something of 

thereof. Eastoniess therein: so situated comparatively to 

some more ancient foundation. Others deduce it 

from oriolium, an eminent room in monasteries^ 

and I cannot but smile at such who will have 
royal / as a pathetical admiration of princely magni- 
ficence^. 
Kings 11. However, I do not deny but that the kings of 

fathers to England have been very indulgent to this foundation. 
ouse. p^j. ijggij^g j^jjjg Edward the Second the founder 

thereof, his son king Edward gave unto them the 
hospital of St. Bartholomew's nigh Oxford, with 
lands to maintain eight poor people, subject to the 
government of the provost and fellows of this col- 
lege. Besides, king James being informed of some 
legal defects in this foundation, granted them a new 
corporation cavil-proof against all exceptions. 
Lately re- 12. This coUegc being much decayed, Anthony 
mostde- Bleucow late provost, bequeathed twelve hundred 
^" ^' pounds to the new building of a front thereof; 
which being done, lest it should be a disgrace to the 
rest of the fabric, the whole college is rebuilt in a 
most decent manner. 



^ M. Paris in vitis Ab. Sti. sive messuage bestowed on 

Albani, p. loo. chapel by king Edward 

I [More probably from La 1327.] 
Oriole, the name of an exten- 



CJSNT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



269 



Propotts, 


Bewffactort, 


Bishopt. 


Learned writert. 


J326. Adam de Brom. 


John Franke 


John Car- 


William Allen, 


I332- William de Lever. 


gave four fel- 


penter, bi- 


cardinal. 


ton. 


lowships. 


shop of 


Sir Walter Ra- 


X347. William de 


John Carpen- 


Worcester.? 


leigh, q 


Haukesworth. 


ter, bishop of 




WiUiam 


1349« William de Da- 


Worcester, 




Prynne. 


ventre. 


gave one fel- 
lowship. 






'.^73- William de Co- 






lyntre. 


WiUiam Smith, 






1385. JohndeMiddleton. 


bishop of Lin- 






[1394. John de Maldon.] 


coln, gave one 






1401. John de Possel. 


fellowship. 






William de Corffe. 


Richard Dud- 






J414. Thomas de Lintle- 


ley, D.D. gave 






warden*. 


two fellow. 






Henry E^ayle. 


ships and two 






1425. Nicholas Barry". 


exhibitions. 






John Carpenter. 








1443. Walter Lyhart. 








1445. John Halse. 








1449. Henry Sampson. 








Thomas Hawkins. 








1478. John Taylor. 








1493. Thomas Cornish. 








1507. Edmund Myl- 






• 


forde". 








15 16. James More. 








¥530. Thomas Ware. 








1538. Henry Mynne. 
1540. William Haynes. 














1550. John Smith. 








1565. Roger Marbeck. 








1566. John Belly. 








1572. Anthony Blen- 








cowe. 








1617. l>r. W illiam Lewes. 








1621. Dr. John Tolson. 








1644. Dr. John Sanders. 









A. D. 1324. 
i7£dw. II. 



So that lately were maintained therein, one provost, 
eighteen fellows, one bible-clerk, twelve exhibition- 
ers, with commoners and college officers amounting 
to one hundred and sixty. 



™ [Or Leintwarden. Wood, 
ib.l 

^ [Wood calls him Herry.] 

o [Wylsford. Wood.l 

P r Wood enumerates sixteen 



prelates as having belonged to 
this college to the year 1 766,] 
q Before or after of Chi;i8t- 
church. 



270 



The Church HiMtory 



BOOK III.' 



A.D. 1315 
i8Kdw.II 

War be. 
tween the 
queen and 
king. 



Counter 
proclama- 
tiont and 
counter 
nunoiirt. 



18. Let us cast our eye on the commonwealth 
' only, as it is the ring wherein the diamond of the 
church is contained, and that now fiill of cracks, 
caused by the several state factions. The two Spen- 
cers ruled all things till the queen and her scm 
(who politicly had got leave to go beyond the seas) 
returned into England with a navy and army landing 
in Suffolk ^ She denounceth open war against h^ 
husband, unless he would presently conform to hw 
desires". 

14. The king proclaimed that a thousand pounds 
should be given to him that brought the head of 
Roger Mortimer. The queen proclaimed (such who 
had the better purse may give the greater price) 
that whosoever brought the head of the young 
Spencer (it seems his father was not so considerable) 
should have two thousand pounds. The queen*ft 
party gave out that the king of France had sent over 
a vast army for her assistance, and the king's side 
anti-rumoured (who could raise reports easier than 
armies) that the pope had excommunicated all such 
who sided against him ^: now though both reports 



*■ [Apud portam de Herwyke 
in parte orientali Anglise. 
Chron.de Lanercost. an. 1326.] 

• [According to the Chro- 
nicle of Lanercost, the king 
sent hev into France under 
the expectation that she would 
be able to negociate a peace 
between him and her brother, 
the king of France. On the 
same authority it is stated that 
the cause of her enmity to the 
younger Spencer, who was su- 
preme in the king's favour, 
arose from his attempting to 
procure a divorce between the 



king and queen, for which 
purpose he sent Thomas de 
Dunheved and Eobert de Bal- 
dock to Rome. Chron. de La- 
nercost. an. 1325.] 

* [Quite the reverse accord- 
ing to Thomas de la More, 
p. 598. *• Praeterea prosiluit 
" mendacium ab exercitu [sc. 
*' reginse] in omnes regni pla- 
** gas divulgatum, quod sum- 
'* muspontifexRomanus omnes 
" Anglos absoluit a fidelitate 
" jurata suo regi, fulminaret- 
'* que sententiam excommuni- 
" cationis in omnes contra re- 



B CBKT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



m 



B were false, they made true impressions of hope in a. d. 1346. 
, sach hearts as believed them. ^^ — !^1-I 

, 15. Three ways were presented to king Edward, The king 
i fight, flight, and concealment ; the first he was un- fight, 

- able to do, having no effectual forces, only able for 

- a time to defend the castle of Bristol, till many of 
. his complices were taken therein: a tower therein 

(given out to be undermined) being indeed under- 
monied with bribes to the defenders thereof. Here 
the elder Spencer was taken and executed. 

16. Flight was no less unsafe than dishonourable. Or flee. 
for his kingdom being an island, the sea would 
quickly put a period thereunto. Indeed there was 
some thoughts of his flight into Ireland, which was 

no better than out of a dirty way into a very bog; 
besides great the difficulty to recover the sea, and 
greater to pass over it, all ports and passages were 
so waylaid. 

17. Concealment was at the last resolved on, not After a 
as the best, but only way of his security; for a time ceaUnent !■ 
he lay hid amongst the Welsh" (not able to help,**^*"' 
but willing to pity him as a native of their country) 

. concealed in the abbey of Nethe, till men are sent 

" down with money, (no such light as the shine of 

silver wherewith to discover a person inquired for,) 

and soon after he was betrayed into their hands^. 

The younger Spencer taken with him is hung on a 



*' ginam arma deferentes. Ad 
'* hujus niendacii confirmatio- 
" nem finguntur duo cardinales 
" esse exercitui reginse adhse- 
" rentes nuntii praemissorum/'] 

« [Th. de la More, p. 599. 
Avesbury, p. 6.] 

V [He was treated with con- 



siderable barbarity, having first 
been hung, then decapitated, 
last of all quartered ; his head 
was placed on London bridge, 
one of his quarters was sent to 
Dover, another to Bristol, a 
third to York, and the fourth 
to Newcastle. Avesbury, p. 6.^ 



273 The Church History book hi. 

A.D. 1326. gallows fifty foot high, and the promised two thon- 
19Edw.lL g^jj^ pounds were duly paid, and equally parted be- 
twixt several persons employed in his apprehension. 
King Ed. 18. Many persons of quality were sent down from 
ligne^^ the parliament then sitting to king Eldward, to 
crown. Kenilworth castle, to move, alias to command him 
to resign the crown, which at last he sadly surren- 
dered. Sir William Trussel, a lawyer of great 
abused abilities, being rather to make than find a 
precedent in this kind, improved his wits in the for- 
malities thereof. Soon after prince Edward his son 
is crowned king, whose father is now no more than 
plain Edward of Caernarvon, though his mother, 
whose title was relative to, and a derivative from 
her husband the dethroned king, was now more 
queen Isabel than ever before. Thus the degradation 
of a knight, as some have informed me, extendeth 
not to his wife, who by the courtesy of England, if 
once, is ever a lady. 
He is 19. Edward, late king, with many letters solicited 

hii own ^ ^^ ^^ admitted into the queen's company. All in 
^'^•^ vain, she found embraces at a less distance dearer 
unto her, preferring the society of a lord, who in 
effect had deposed a king, before a king, who had 
deposed himself: she made many excuses of sickness 
and indisposition to enjoy him. So easily can that 
sex make plausible pretences, that they cannot what 
they will not do. 
AndcrueUy 20. Roger Mortimer, whose lust and revenge was 
murdered. gqu^Hy uusatiablc, could not be quiet whilst king 
Edward was alive; he feared king Edward might 
play an after-game of affection in his subjects : in 
order therefore to his death, he is removed from 
Kenilworth (where the earl of Leicester his keeper 



CEKT. XIV. of Britain, 273 

was suspected too sympathising with his sorrow) a. d. 1326. 
unto Berkley castle, where he was barbarously^^ — ^^* 
butchered, being struck into the postern of his body 
with a hot spit, as it is generally reported^. 

21. Nothing now remaineth in this king's reign,Ab™ce 
save to take notice how the clergy (understand such subject^'. 
who were active, for neuters shall pass for none) 
tstand affected in this great state-difference. I find 

not enough to call a number of the bishops cordial 
to the king. For besides Walter Stapleton, bishop 
of Exeter, of whom before, only John Stratford, 
Insfaop of Winchester, heartily adhered unto him, 
and yet this Stratford was employed on a message 
from the parliament to the king at Kenilworth to 
persuade him to resign the crown, though having 
no other design than the king's safety therein. He 
hoped that in this tempest the casting out of the 
lading would save the hulk of the ship, and the sur- 
rendering of the sceptre secure the king's person. 

22. With John Stratford let me couple Robert dcAndaioyai 
Baldock (though no bishop, a bishop's mate) as a^^alJceiior. 
priest and chancellor of England*. This man, unable 

to assist, resolved to attend the king, and was taken 
with him in Wales. Hence was he brought up to 
London, and committed to Adam Tarleton, bishop 
of Hereford. Here the shadow of Tarleton's mitre 
(if pleased to put forth his power) might have se- 
cured this his guest-prisoner from any danger, 
whereas on the contrary, it is more than suspicious 

^ [Yet Avesbury represents cester, p. 6. See below, p. 280.] 
his submission as a voluntary < [D3 la Morei p. 60c. In 

deed^andseems to have thought which commission he was 

his death was natural. Accord, joined by Adam Tarleton « bi- 

ing to the same writer he was shop of Hereford, ot* whom 

buried at the abbey of Gloir- see afterwards.] 

FULLEE, VOL. II. T 



5r74 



The Cknrch Hi$ioty 



BOOK III. 



i.u f '26. that lie ^ve a ngnal to the tnniiiltaoas people to 
— ^s^'izc his person. For he was diagged to Newgate. 



and there payed his life for his loyalty; yet 
fievr-r heard to complain of the deamees of his 
iM*nnvworth. If anv violence was secretiv ofiered 
unto his ]ierson, he might endure it the more 
l»fltienth% having read, that the dheip/e f> not aiare 
his uinsti*r^ nor the servant Itetter than hh lord^. This 
Ibihhiek was a good justicer, nor charged in onr 
rhniniclcM with anv misdemeanour, save faithfulness 
to an unfortunate master, and his memory will tra- 
vorsc his innocence, as confessing the fact, but de- 
nying any fault therein*. 
knhhii.h<ip 23. Hut we have more than a good number of 
iiitharikfiii such ))isIiops, which ungratefully sided with the 
"''^'r|uc»en against her husband, and their sovereigD. 
Walter Jloynolds archbishop of Canterbury leads 
tlieir van, ]>referred to that see at the king's great 
importunity, and by the pope his power ofprovisim. 
i )n the same token that, a far better man^ Thomas 
(!obham by name, dean of Salisbury, (so learned and 
|>ious a person that he was generally called the good 
clergyman,) legally elected by the commons, was put 
by by the pope to make room for this Reynolds. He 
afterwards complied with the queen, his new mis- 



y ]\Iatt. X. 24. 

2 [He, as well as Walter 
Stapleton^ was murdered by 
tlie fury of the London mob^ 
ever the foremost in deeds of 
lawlessness and cruelty. When 
he had been brought to Lon- 
don by the influence of Tarle- 
ton, the Londoners laying vio- 
lent hands upon him, not 
without the connivance of the 
bishop of Hereford, thrust him 



into Newgate, desiring that he 
might be drawn and quartered 
as a traitor. But when after 
many examinations they could 
find no spot of treason m him, 
nor fix any crime upon him, 
disappointed of their ven- 
geance, they handled him so 
brutally, that he died from the 
effects of his ill-treatment early 
in the spring.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 276 

tress, against his old master, active to perform his a. d. 1326. 

desires. This some seek in vain to excuse, by-^ '— 

pleasing her imperious spirit, and this archbishop's 
fearAilness, alleging that cowardliness is rather a 
defect in nature than default in morality. 

24. A word by the way of the nature of the The nature 
pope's provisions, (lately mentioned,) which nowprovis^^* 
began to be a general grievance of our nation. 
When any bishopric, abbot's place, dignity, or good 
living (aquila non capit muscas) was like to be void, 

the pope, by a profitable prolepsis to himself, pre- 
disposed such places to such successors as he pleased. 
By this device he defeg-ted (when so pleased) the 
legal election of all convents, and rightful pre- 
sentation of all patrons. He took up churches 
before they fell, yea, before they ever stumbled : I 
mean, whilst as yet no suspicion of sickness, in in- 
cumbents younger and healthier than his holiness 
himself. Yea, sometimes no act of provision was 
entered in scriptis in the court, only the pope was 
pleased to say by word of mouth (and who durst 
confute him ?) he had done it. So that incumbents 
to livings, who otherwise had a rightful title from 
their patrons, were, to purchase their peace, glad to 
buy of the pope's provisions. Yea, his holiness sold 
them aforehand to several persons, so that not he 
who gave the first, but the most money, carried 
away the preferment. 

25. Next we take notice of Henry Burwash%Burwiwh 

biiihnn of 

bishop of Lincoln, lately restored to the favour of Lincoln 
king Edward, and by him lately esteemed. Yet no 

* [In Rymer the name is More, p. 497. Godwin de 
spelt Burghershe. See a fur- Praes. Ang. p. 294.] 
ther account of him in De la 

T 2 



276 The Church History book hi. 

.T>. 1376. sooner did tlio queen appear in the field with an 
' army against him, but this bishop was the first and 

forwardest who publicly repaired unto her. This 
Bumash was he, who by mere might, against aU 
right and reason, took in the land of many poor 
])eople, (without making also the least reparation,) 
therewith to complete his park at Tinghurst. These 
wronged persons, though seeing their own bread, 
beef, and mutton turned into the bishop's venison, 
durst not contest with him who was chancellor of 
England, though neither law nor equity in this his 
action ; only they loaded him with curses and exe- 
crations. Tliis mindeth me of a modem accident, 
when, some twenty years since, a knight went about 
injuriously to inclose the conunons of a town, and 
demanded of his bailiff what the railing in of the 
same would amount to; to whom his servant an- 
swered, '^ that if he would take in the conunons, the 
" country would find him railings," as here they did 
this injurious bishop. Otherwise let me say, that 
inclosures made without oppression are a grand en- 
riching both to private persons and to the common- 
wealth. 



/ 



imiieoi' 26. Here let the reader smile or frovni, I am 
"^^^' resolved to write what I find recorded in a grave 
author, deriving it no doubt from good intelli- 
gence^. This bishop Burwash is said after his death 
to have appeared to one of his former fieimiliar friends, 
apparelled 

Like a forester all in green-a. 

With his bow and quiver of arrows, and his bugle 

^ Godwin de Pries. Ang* p. 294. 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 877 

horn hanging by his side: to him he complained a d. 1326. 
that for the injuries done by him to the poor whilst '^ ^^' ' 
living, he was now condemned to this penance, to be 
the park-keeper of that place, which he so wrong- 
fully had enclosed. He therefore desired him to 
repair to the canons of Lincoln, and in his name to 
request them that they would take order, that all 
hedges being cut down, and ditches filled up, all 
might be reduced to their property, and the poor 
men be restored to their inheritance. It is added 
moreover, that one W. Bachelor was employed by 
the canons aforesaid to see the premises performed, 
which was done accordingly. 

27. This pretended apparition seems inconsistent a grave 
with the nature of purgatory, as usually by papists ^ ^^^' 
represented to people. Surely the smoke thereof 
would have sooted his green suit, and the penance 
seems so slight and light for the offence, as having 

so much liberty and pleasm'e in a place of command. 
Some poets would have fancied him rather conceived 
himself turned Acteon-like, into a deer, to be daily 
hunted by his own hound, guilt of conscience, until 
he made restitution. But it seems there be degrees 
in piu-gatory, and the bishop not in the prison itself, 
but only within the rules thereof, privileged to go 
abroad, whether on his parole or with his keeper, 
uncertain, till he could procure suffrages for his 
plenary relaxatioB. 

28. Adam Tarleton, bishop of Hereford, is the last a devu 
we will insist on, bom in that city, where afterward ^'^^^ "^' 
he became bishop, yet not honoured, but hated, and 
feared in the place of hia nativity^. He was thQ 

c [Th. de h More, p, 599..! 

T 3 



278 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



A.D. .3j6.grand engineer and contriver of all mischief against 
1? — !^' the king. Witness the sennon preached by him at 
Oxford before the queen, (then in hostile pursuit 
after her husband,) taking for this text the words of 
the sick son of the Shunamite, My head^ my TieadK 
Here his wit and malice endeavoured to reap what 
God's Spirit did never intentionally sow, and urged 
that a bad king (the distempered head of a state) is 
past physic or chirurgery to be cured by receipts or 
plasters, but the only way is to cut it off from the 
body. 
And as bad 29- His writing was worse than his preaching. 
For when such agents, set to keep king Edward in 
Berkeley castle, were by secret order from Roger 
Mortimer commanded to kill him, they by letters 



^ [The acconntof the preach- 
ing of those prelates who sided 
with the queen upon this occa- 
sion^ as detailed in the Chro- 
nicle of Lanercost, is too cu- 
rious to be left altogether un- 
noticed^ particularly as it serves 
to correct two or three errors 
of Fuller, and to supply a 
blank in the scanty information 
furnished us by the generality 
of the chroniclers upon this 
subject. According to this 
Chronicle, the bishop of Here- 
ford preached upon the feast 
of St. Hilary, (Jan. 13, 1327,) 
taking for his text this passage 
from Ecclesiasticus : ** Kex in- 
^^ sipiens perdit populum 

" suum" he enlarged much 

upon the follies of the king, 
and the evils which had hap- 
pened to this kingdom from 
his mismanagement. At the 
conclusion of his discourse the 



people exclaimed with one 
voice; We will not have this 
king to reign over us» On the 
following day John Stratford, 
bishop of Winchester preached, 
whose text was taken from 
2 Kings iv. 19, " Caput meum 
** doleo/* Ml/ head, my head, — • 
indicating that the head of the 
kingdom was sick and unsound. 
He was succeeded upon the 
third day by the archbishop of 
Canterbury, Walter Reynolds, 
who took for his text, " Vox 
*• populi vox Dei," de- 
claring at the end of his dis- 
course to all his audience, that 
by the consent of the nobles 
and commonalty of the realm, 
the king had been deposed 
from his former dignity, and 
that by the unanimous consent 
of all his son £dward should 
succeed him. Chron. de La- 
nercost, an. 1326.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 279 

addressed tliemselves for advice to this bishop, then a. d. 1326. 

, i9Edw. II. 

not far off at Hereford, craving his counsel what 

they should do in so difficult and dangerous a matter. 
He returned unto them a riddling answer, altogether 
unpointed, which carried in it life and death, yea, 
life or death, as variously construed, resolved to be 
guided and governed wholly by his direction, not to 
dispute, but do what from him was recommended 
unto them, as knowing him able both in conscience 
and policy to advise them. 

Life and Death. 
To kill king Edward you need not to fear it is good, a strange 

apparition. 

Life. Death. 

To kill king Edward you To kill king Edward you 

need not, to fear it need not to fear, it 

is good. is good®. 

30. This Adam Tarleton was afterwards accused Arraigned 
of treason in the beginning of the reign of king he escapes ' 
Edward the Third, and arraigned by the king's jj^e/^* 
officers, when in the presence of the king he thus 
boldly uttered himself; 

My lord the king, with all due respect unto 
your majesty, I, Adam, an humble minister and 
" member of the church of God, and a consecrated 
bishop, though unworthy, neither can, nor ought to 
answer unto so hard questions, without the conniv- 
" aiice and consent of my lord archbishop of Canter- 
bury, my immediate judge under the pope, and 
" without the consent of other bishops who are my 
" peers." 

Three archbishops were there present in the 

« [*' Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est." Th. de 
More, p. 602.] 

T 4 






280 The Churck Hiitory of Britain. book in. 



A.D. 1336. place, Canterbury, York, and Dublin, by whose in- 
i? — !L«' tercession Tarleton escaped at that time*. 
Arraigned 31. Not long after he was arraigned again at the 
protected by king's beuch, the news whereof so startled the 
^cio^y- clergy, that the foresaid archbishops erected their 
standards, I mean, set up their crosses, and with ten 
bishops more, attended with a numerous train of 
well-weaponed servants, advanced to the place (rf 
judicature. The king^ officers frighted at the sight 
fled away, leaving Tarleton the prisoner alone at the 
bar ; whom the archbishops took home into their own 
custody, denouncing a curse on all such who should 
presume to lay violent hands upon him. 
Cwtthe 82. The kinir offended hereat, caused a jury of 
f?^ Ujmen to be e^p^melled. «.d to i^^ JJL, 
pwi^bed. to form of law into the actions of the bishop of 
Hereford. This was a leading case, and the first 
time that ever laymen passed their verdict on a 
clergyman. These jurors found the bishop guilty, 
whereupon the king presently seized on his tem- 
porals, he proscribed the bishop, and despoiled him 
of all his movables. However, afterwards he came 
off, and was reconciled to the king, and by the pope 
made bishop of Winchester, where he died, a 
thorough old man, and blinded with age, many 
envying so quiet a death to one who living had been 
so turbulent a person. But these things happened 
many years after. 

^ [The archbishops of Can- taken part against Cdward 11^ 
terbury and Dublin had both Tho. de la More^ p^ 59^0 



SECT. 



TO 



MASTER THOMAS WILLIAMSS 



AND 



MASTER WILLIAM VANBRUG^ 

OF LONDON, MERCHANTS. 

Astronomers affirm that some planets^ Saturn^ Jupiter, 
Sfc.^ are by many degrees greater than the moon itself, 
and this they can easily evidence by demonstration. 
However, the moon is bigger^ and shetvs brighter to 
meris eyes, because of the vicinity thereof, whilst other 
stars are dimmed and diminished by their distance. 



a [Arms. Argent, a chevron 
between three cocks gules, on 
a chief sable, three spear heads 
argent, embrned gules. This 
is the coat of Williams of 
Gwernevet, an ancient Welsh 
family, of which this Thomas 
Williams was probably a de- 
scendant.] 

b [This William Vanbrugh 
or Vanburgh was the second 
but eldest surviving son of 
Giles Vanburgh, a wealthy 



merchant of Ghent, who fled 
from that city to escape the 
persecution of Alva, came to 
London, and settled in the 
parish of St. Stephens Wal- 
broke, where he, ^as well as 
several of his descendants, lies 
buried in a family vault built 
by him for that purpose. His 
son and successor William 
had a brother Giles Vanburgh, 
father of the celebrated sir 
John Vanburgh, architect and 




28a Tke Church History book hi. 

l/e ix Hot the happiftt man who Am the highest friends, 
too remote to iisaist him, whilst otlters lesser might be 
nearer at his need. JVif oicn experience can avouch tke 
truth thereof, in relation to your courtesies besiouvd 
upon me. 

|00N after his death king Edward was 

iiuich lameiitetl by those of whom in 

his lifetime he was never be]oved^ 

A\"hether this proceeded from the 

mere mutability of meii's minds, 

(wt*ar}' to loiter loug in the lazy posture of the 

same aft'ection.) or whether it proceeded from the 

pride of Mortimn-, whose insolence grew intolerable; 

or whether it was because his punishment was 

j»\>noraIIy a]tprehende<l to be too heavy for his 

fiiult : s«> that dei'osition without death, or (at the 

won>t^ (K-ath without such unhuman cruelty had 

Kvu surtioient. 

Kii^t Kd- (l»e of our Enjrlish poet historians acquainteth us 

svi^iiihiaf- ^^"'th a |»as!5age. which to my knowledge appeareth 

Ktnitni. ii^ij jij ,-,ti,^,r authors. 

At t.iloui.H'^tor i.'ntoiiibe«l £i\Tt\ and buried 
\Vhi»r\> stuuo say Ciod shewed for him great grace 
v^ilh that txtut-. uith niinicles laudefied 

I'lan-ttoit'iix kin^ at arms. His cut. as well as in tliat pretixed 

iiiu-tc WtllUtn, lu wki)ni. in to the work above-named, 

«s-tmuwt)»«iw)tlt'nu>ousother$. Fuller has given this coat, 

^^lUCT h«s «W iit^-ribed his with a slight deviation from 

" l*i»)9th Sight." bore as his correctness, Mr. William Van- 

Ivkl^TiMt i.><at ofamts. "(.lulw, brugh married Dorothy, daugh- 

" »»n H (\>M w thive twTTuleta ler of sir Dudley Carleton, and 

" vort i it! chief k donu-lion died at a very advanced a^e in 

" avjp'Ht." which was subsc- i7<^4- He lies buried in Wal- 

t^Ht-Hllv ittMSnucJ t*» hi* ne>- broke churdb.] 

Iihcw "nil J»>hn by Ileirtv S^t. '"Exstiactuaamabitutideni." 

iwtt}!^. ^rtcr. " It w-ill be [ Ilor. Ep. I. 1. ii. 14.] 
mvH thM lu the present wjod- 



CJBNT. XIV. of Britain, 283 

Ofte tymes, in diverse many case A.D. 1337. 

As is written there, in that same place. 1 Edw. iii. 

For which king Rychard, called the Second 
To translate him was purposed whole and sounds. 

It is much that one but a small saint whilst alive 
should be so great a one when dead, as to be mira- 
culously illustrious. But every man may believe his 
proportion. 

2. Indeed great was the conformity betwixt this a pair of 
king Edward and that king Richard, both being matched. 
secundij the second of their name : but not secundi, 
happy in their success. And had king Richard the 
Second known aforehand what casualty did attend 
him, no wonder if he secretly sjmtipathized with his 
condition. Both sons of valiant and beloved fathers, 
both of proper and amiable persons. Both debauched 

by the ill counsel of their dissolute companions. 
Both deposed from their crowns. Both murdered 
whilst prisoners in a clandestine, and (as some report) 
self-same way of cruelty. 

3. Ingenuous people are very loath to believe King Ed- 
king Edward the Third accessary to his father's ^tU^n his 
death, otherwise than by accepting the crown which ^^^^^ ^^' 
he should have refused, and antedating his own 
sovereignty. Which may be excused by his tender 
years, thirteen as some, fifteen as others compute 
them*. Nor is it a weak argument of his innocence 

with impartial people, because he reigned above fifty 
years, and lived to be a thorough old man. An 
happiness promised by God to such who are obedient 

c Sir John Harding in the Avesbury, Hist. Edwardi, III. 

life of king Edward the Se- p. 5 ; or fourteen, if it be com- 

cond. Qchap. 177. ed. J 543.] puted from his father's death. 

^ [Thirteen, according to ib. p. 6.] 



S84 The Church History book hi. 

A. p. 1337. to their parents. Besides, it is considerable, that 

'- — ' this king having a numerous issue of active children 

of both sexes, none visibly appear a cross unto him, 

^^ for any notorious undutifulness. 

Hit admSt. 4. The former })art of this king's reign affords but 
Ui his wwi. little church history, as totally taken up vnth his 
achievements in Scotland and France, vrhere his 
success by sea and land was above belief, and even 
to admiration. He conquered both before his &ce 
and behind his back. Whence he came and whither 
he went. North and south, the one in his person, 
the other by his substitutes in his absence. Inso- 
much that he got more than he knew what to do 
with, exhausting the land to man the cities which 
he had gained. Herein he stands without a parallel, 
that he had both the kings he fought against, viz. 
John de Valois of France, and David the king of 
Scotland, his prisoners at one time, not taken by any 
cowardly surprise, but by fair fight in open field. 
And hu- 5. It soundeth much to the commendation of his 
^" modesty and moderation, that intending to found an 
order of knighthood at his castle of Windsor®, where 
he had these two royal prisoners, in the institution 
thereof he neither had any insolent relation to his 
own conquest, nor opprobrious reflection on his 
enemies' captivity, but began the innocent order of 
the garter, unreferring to any of his former achieve- 
ments. But more hereof in due time. 
England 6. The king and state began now to grow sensible 
ignorant in of the great gain the Netherlands got by our English 
dotw. ^^^^' ^^ memory whereof the duke of Burgundy not 
long after instituted the order of the golden fleece, 

^ Others say in London town. 



CENT. XIV. of Britain, 286 

wherein indeed the fleece was ours, the golden a. d. 1337. 

theirs, so vast their emolument by the trade of !^ — .' 

clothing. Our king therefore resolved if possible to 
reduce the trade to his own country, who as yet 
were ignorant of that art, as knowing no more what 
to do with their wool than the sheep that wear it, as 
to any artificial and curious drapery, their best clothes 
then being no better than friezes, such their coarse- 
ness for want of skill in their making. But soon 
after followed a great alteration, and we shall enlarge 
ourselves in the manner thereof ^ 

7- This intercourse now being great betwixt the The king's 
English and the Netherlands, (increased of late tempt the 
since king Edward married the daughter of the earl ^^c«" 
of Hainault,) unsuspected emissaries were employed 
by our king into those countries, who wrought them- 
selves into familiarity with such Dutchmen as were 
absolute masters of their trade, but not masters of 
themselves, as either journeymen or apprentices. 
These bemoaned the slavishness of these poor 
servants, whom their masters used rather like hea- 
thens than Christians, yea rather like horses than 
men. Early up, and late in bed, and all day hard 
work, and harder fare, (a few herrings and mouldy 
cheese,) and all to enrich the churls their masters, 
without any profit unto themselves. 

8. But oh how happy should they be if they To come 
would but come over into England, bringing their EngUmcU 
mystery with them, which would provide their wel- 

^ QThe first staple of wool a tax was granted to the king 

in England was held at West- of fifty shillings upon every 

minster in 1353, according to sack of wool, and that the 

Avesbiiryy Hist. Edw. III. yearly export was reckoned at 

p. 194. Th& same writer also a hundred thousand sacks, 

observes^ that in the year 1355 p. 216.] 



286 The Church History book hi. 

A.I). 1337. come in all places! Here they should feed on &t 
" '*' beef and mutton, till nothing but their fulness should 
stint their stomachs : yea they should feed on the 
labours of their own hands, enjoying a proportionable 
profit of their pains to themselves, their beds should 
be good, and their bed-fellows better, seeing the 
richest yeomen in England would not disdain to 
marry their daughters unto them, and such the Eng- 
lish beauties, that the most envious foreigners could 
not but commend them. 
And oiitain 9* Liberty is a lesson quickly conned by heart, 

their dnire* •■ . . • 1 •^r • ^r 1 a a 

men having a principle withm themselves to prompt 
them in case they forget it. Persuaded with the 
premises, many Dutch servants leave their masters 
and make over for England. Their departure thence 
(being picked here and there) made no sensible 
vacuity, but their meeting here altogether amounted 
to a considerable fulness. With themselves they 
brought over their trade and their tools, namely, 
such which could not, as yet, be so conveniently 
made in England. 
Their 10. Happy the yeoman's house into which one of 

w^lpUon. these Dutchmen did enter, bringing industry and 
wealth along with them. Such who came in strangers 
within their doors, soon after went out bridegrooms, 
and returned son-in-laws, having married the daugh- 
ters of their landlords who first entertained them. 
Yea, those yeomen in whose houses they harboured 
soon proceeded gentlemen, gaining great estates to 
themselves, arms and worship to their estates. 
The king 11. The king having gotten this treasury of 
Sl^^h foreigners, thought not fit to continue them all in 
the Dutch, ^j^q placc, Icst ou discontcut they might embrace a 
general resolution to return, but bestowed them 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain, 



287 



through all the parts of the land, that clothing a. d, 1337, 

thereby might be the better dispersed. Here I say '- — -' 

nothing of the colony of old Dutch, who frighted 
out of their own country with an inundation, about 
the reign of king Henry the First, (possibly before that 
nation had attained the cunning of cloth-making,) 
were seated only in Pembrokeshire. This new ge- 
neration of Dutch was now sprinkled every where, 
so that England (in relation I mean to her own 
counties) may bespeak these inmates in the language 
of the poet. 

Quae regie in terns vestri non plena laboris? 

Though generally (where left to their own choice) 
they preferred a maritime habitation. 



East. 


West. 


North, 


Smth. 


1. Norfolk, Nor- 
wich fustians. 

2. Suffolk, Sud- 
bury bayes. 


1. Devonshire, 
kersey. 

2. Gloucestershire, 
doth. 


1 . Westmore- 
land, Kendal 
cloth. 

2. Ijancashire, 
Manchester 


1. Somerset- 
shire, Taun- 
ton serges. 

2. Hampshire, 
doth. 


3. Essex, Colches- 
ter sayes and 


3. Worcestershire, 
cloth. 


cotton. 
3. Yorkshire, 
Halifax cloths. 


3. Berkshire, 
doth. 


serges. 
4. Kent, Kentish 
broadcloths. 


4. Wales, Welsh 
friezes. 


4. 


4. Sussex, doth. 



I am informed that a prime Dutch cloth maker in 
Gloucestershire had the surname of Web given him 
by king Edward there: a family still famous for 
their manufecture. Observe we here, that mid- 
England, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, and Cam- 
bridge, having most of wool, have least of clothing 
therein. 

12. Here the Dutchmen found fullers' earth, aFuUeiV 
precious treasure, whereof England hath (if not precious 
more) better than all Christendom besides : a great ^^*«^^**y- 



288 The Church History book hi. 

A. D. 1337. commodity of the quorum to the making of good 

! cloth, so that nature may seem to pomt out our land 

for the staple of drapery, if the idleness of her inhabit- 
ants be not the only hinderance thereof. This fiillere' 
earth is clean contrary to our Jesuits, who are 
needless drugs, yet still staying here though daily 
commanded to depart, whilst fullers' earth, a 
precious ware, is daily scoured hence, though by law 
forbidden to be transported. 
Woollen 13. And now was the English wool improved to 
English the highest profit, passing through so many hands, 
wealth. eyeiy one having a fleece of the fleece, sorters, 
combers, carders, spinsters, weavers, fiillers, dyers, 
pressors, packers ; and these manufactures have been 
heightened to a higher perfection since the cruelty 
of the duke d'Alva drove over more Dutch into 
England. But enough of this subject, which let 
none condemn for a deviation from church history; 
first, because it would not grieve one to go a little 
out of the way, if the way be good, as this digression 
is for the credit and profit of our country. Secondly, 
it reductively belongeth to the church history, seeing 
many poor people both young and old, formerly 
charging the parishes^ (as appeared by the accounts 
of the church officers,) were hereby enabled to main- 
tain themselves. 
The pope's 14. The oxtortion of the pope being now some^ 
utaren what abated in England, the Caursines or Lombards, 
^^^^' formerly the money merchants of his holiness, and 
the grand usurers of England, did not drive so full a 
trade as before. Whereupon they betake them- 
selves to other merchandize, and began to store- 
England with foreign commodities, but at unreason- 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 289 

able rates, whilst England itself had as jet but little a. d. 1336. 
«nd bad shipping, and those less employed «^. '■ — •* 

15. But now king Edward, to prevent the en- »«* at last 
grossing of trade into the hand of foreigners, and to hibited by 
restore the same to his native subjects, took order ^^' 
that these aliens should no longer prey on the radical 
moisture of this land, but began to cherish navi- 
gation in his own subjects, and gave a check to such 
joommodities which foreigners did import as in 
(Bucient poems is largely described, whereof so much 

as <M)neemeth our purpose : 

He made a statute for Lombards in this land, 
That they should in no wise take on hand 
Here to inhabit, here to charge and discharge, 
But forty days no more time had they large, 
This^ood king by wit of such appriefe. 
Kept hi8 merchants and the sea from mischief b. 

But this was a work of time to perform, and took 
not full eflfect to the end of this king's reign ; yea the 
LomVards were not totally routed till the reign of 
Icing Richard the Third. 

16. Ji^bout this time the clergy were very bounti-A survey 
fid in contributing to the king's necessities, in pro- derby's 
portion to their benefices. Hereupon a survey was^^®**®^*' 
exactly taken of all their glebe land, and the same 
{ftdrly engrossed in parchment) was returned into 

the exchequer, where it remaineth at this day, and 
is the most useful record for clergymen (and also for 
impropriators as under their claim) to recover their 

g [Of the complaints against sq. and 353. sq.] 

the Lombards, and the ordi- ^ Liber de custodia Maris^ 

nances made in consequence extant in Hacluit's Voyages, 

of such complaints, see the hook i. p. 191. [ed. 1 599*3 
Rolls of Parliament, II> p* 3 3 5 • 

FULLEB, <r0L. II. U 



\ 



S90 The Ckardk Uisimy book iil 

A. IK lAi^ risrfat '. Manv a stra^slinfir acre, wandering out of 

II KJ 111. *" * » w C ' tD 

^ the w^T, had long since by saciilegions goides be«i 

seduced into the posi^esaon of false owners, had not 
this re\»rd dirvcred them at last to their true pro- 
prietaiy. 

Ptetir «K^ IT. The worjt i>. whilst some dioceses in this ter- 



. rier were exactiT done, and remain fediiT lesfible at 



i|«^T>M»^ 



this daT, ocbers wen? ?•> sliffhtlr slubbered over, that 
itbou^ kepc with equal caiefnlness) they are useless 
in e^ect^ as n«>t to be lead. Thus I was informed 
th>ra a clerk in that office lately deceased*, who, 
whea living:. w^»s older and as able as any therein. 
Ai>! rh^is manuscfiptsw ilike those men who wrote 
tboTj. t thooirh scaniniT ^^h their equals^ hold not aD 
out to the <;uDe Ieci:th. their kmmidum radicakj 
their ink I :r^ean. noc lasdng alike in all originals. 
OKy^raML IS. It w^&s i>>w senenlly complained of as a grand 
t:TiovarM\ that the ckf^ engroisged all places of 
jiKixniturv in the lai^L Xoching was left to laym^ 
b(:t c'ttber militarr commandsk. as graeral, adminl, 
A:w v>r sach ?uii^=s* places as concerned only the 
vxMnr kcter o; ;be comnoNm law: and thoee also 
:?c;mvv1v re^Mnrwi to the smdents theieof. As for 
ett:hfc!^>> ir.to toieun pairs. noUemen were em- 
jvoyvd the«vttu wben exf^jiise, not eiqiierieiice, wm 
n\u:Tv\i tbiefecatiV axKi ceieinoDy the sobstance of 
the !«ervxv: ocijerwise when anr difficnltr in civil 
law, theix cksw^nKXr-ti wete exer cnteitained. The 
K^n.) chazxviW w^j^s exer a bishop. <as if against 
t\:tti: V tv^ c^ixvvov ir.v othe*- tberein. * Teau that court . 
^MvnfclN *;KytKv\? *s x sttkxI of dixinesw wh«e the 



^^k^ V*x^ K^:^ *?.»«' rcKasi- ' \rix IEObt. 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 291 

clerks were clerks, as generally in orders. The same a.d. 1336. 

was also true of the lord treasurer and barons of the '- — 

exchequer. 

19. Some imputed this to the pragmaticalness of Several 

_ , , . , T 1 . 11 opinions of 

the clergy, active to msmuate themselves mto all the causes 

1 J. !_ • j^ aa • thereof. 

employment, how improper soever to their pro- 
fession I Others ascribed it to the king's necessity ; 
the war engrossing the main of his men of merit ; so 
that he was necessitated to make use of clergymen. 
Others attributed it to the king's election, (no way 
weak in head or hand, plotting or performing,) find- 
ing such the fittest to serve him ; who being single 
persons, and having no design to raise a family, were 
as knowing as any in the mysteries of money"*, and 
safest to be entrusted therein. But more hereof 
hereafter. 

20. Robert Eglesfield, bachelor of divinity, chap- The found- 
lain to queen Philippa, wife to king Edward theJ^J^n^g 
Third, founded a college on his own ground, by the o^^^'by 
name of Queen's college, (commending the patronage ]^\^^^^ 
thereof to his lady the queen, and to the queens of 
England successively,) which he endowed with lands 

and revenues for the maintenance of a provost and 
twelve fellows, which were to be augmented as the 
revenues increased. 

21. Now though this was called Queen's, from a pair of 

i.i . TiiiTfc»'j prinoesbred 

their honorary patronesses, it may be styled Prmce s therein. 
college, fipom those pair of students therein. Edward 
the Black prince, who presently after this foundation 



1 [This is not strictly cor- they were the only persons 

rect. See Heylin's Examen, suited for holding the chan- 

p. 60. And doubtless as the cellor's office.] 

canon and civil law were stu- ^ Matters of weight, 
died exclusively by the clergy, 

U 2 



292 



The Church History 



BOOKUL 



A.D. 1340. had his education therein^ and Henry the Fifth, is 

I e 15H Ilf 

— — '. — .* yet prince of Wales, under Henry Beaufort^ chui«- 
cellor of the university, and his uncle ; his diamber 
was over the college gate, where his picture at this 
day remaineth in glass, with this inscription 
under it : 

In perpetuam rei memoriam. 

Imperator Britannise, 
Triumphator Gallise, 
Hostium victor, et sui, 
Henricus quintus hujus collegii, 
Et cubiculi (minuti satis) 
Olim magnuB incola)^. 

Which lodging hath for this sixteen years belonged 
to my worthy friend Mr. Thomas Barlow^ that most 
able and judicious philosopher and divine, being ft 
library in himself, and keeper of another, that of sir 
Tho. Bodley's erection, out of which he hath court- 
eously communicated to me some rarities of this 
university. 
Qtieens 22. Now according to the care and desire of the 

3 to founder. The queens of England have ever been 
* ^^ nursing mothers to this foundationP. O what advan- 
tage they have when lying in the bosoms of their 
royal consorts, by whom they cannot be denied what 



" Rossus Warwicensis MS. 
[Hist. Regum Angliae,] in 
Henrico quinto, [p. 207, ac- 
cording to the edition since 
printed by Hearne, 1716. This 
inscription is now in the li- 
brary.] 

o [Afterwards bishop of 
Lincoln in 1675, (Godwin De 
Prassul. p. 304), and provost 
of Queen's college, Oxon. In 



the archives of this library 
many of his MSS. are stiU 
preserved ; and among the rest, 
a copy of his letter^ in hiB own 
hand, to Fuller, containing ob- 
servations and information re- 
specting the university, chiefly 
inserted in this History.] 

P [*' Reginae erunt nutrices 
*' tuae,** the motto of the col- 
lege.] 



CSNT. XIV. of Britain. 29S 

ig equal, and of whom they will not desire what is a. d. 1340. 

otherwise. Thus queen Philippa obtained of her^ '- — '- 

husband, king Edward the Third, the hospital of St. 
Julian's in Southampton, commonly called God's 
house. Queen Elizabeth, wife to king Edward the 
Fourth, procured of him the priory of Sherboum in 
Hampshire, and queen Mary by her intercession 
prevailed with king Charles for the perpetual patron* 
age of certain benefices in the same coimty. 

23. Nor let not our virgin queen be forgotten, as Queen Eii- 
in effect refoundress of this from the third year of singular 
her reign, being informed that the title of the ""^^' 
foundation thereof, with the lands thereunto be- 
longing, were in question, and subject to eviction ; 

by act of parliament conferred a sure estate of 
the same. 

24. I meet in the records of the tower rolls withThiscoUege 
a passage concerning this college, and though I do t^een two 
not perfectly understand, I will exemplify it. blSiops. 

" And a little after, upon divers matters moved 
** between the said archbishop % and the archbishop 
** of York', upon certain privileges pretended by the 
said archbishop of York in the college called 
Queen-hall in the imiversity of Oxford. The said 
archbishop of Canterbury, in presence of the king 
and of the lords, promised, that if the said arch- 
bishop of York could suflSciently shew any privi- 
lege, or specially of record, wherefore the said 
*^ archbishop of Canterbury ought not to use his 
*♦ visitation of the said college, he would then 
abstain. Saving to himself always the visitation 
of the said scholars abiding in the said college, 

<i Tho. Arundel. ' Henry Bowet. 

U 3 









294 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



(4 



44 



44 



.1340 " according to the judgment and decrees made and 
" given by king Richard the Second, and by our 
lord king Henry that now is, as in the record 
thereof made*, thereof more plainly is declared'." 
It seems hereby, so far as I can apprehend, this 
college was so parted betwixt the two metropolitans, 
that the dead moiety, viz. the lands and revenues^ 
thereof belonged to the inspection of the archbishop 
of York, whilst the living half, namely, the scholars, 
especially in matters concerning their religion, per- 
tained to the visitation of the archbishop of Canter- 
bury. 



ProvosU. 



1340. Richard de Rette- 
ford. 

[William de Mus- 

champe.] 

1350. John de Hotham. 

Heiiry Whitfield. 

Thomas de Car- 
lisle. 

1404. Roger Whelpdale. 
1420. Walter Bell. 
1426. Rowland Byris. 
[1432. Thomas de Eg- 
lesfeld.] 
1442. William Spenser 
[1459. Jo^ii Peyrson.] 
[1482. Henry Bost.] 
1489. Thomas Langton. 
1495. Christ. Bainbridge. 
1508. Edward Rigge. 

John Pantry. 

1534. William Denyse. 
1559. Hugh Hodgeson. 
1 561. Thomas Francis. 
1 563. Lancelot Shaw. 
1565. Alan Soot. 

1575. Barthol. Bousfield. 
1 58 1. Henry Robinson. 
1599. Henry Airy. 
1 61 6. Barnabas Potter. 
1626. Christopher Potter. 
1645. Gerard Langbain. 



Benefaetoru, 



Robert Lang- 
ton. 

Thomas 
Langton. 

Edmund 
Orindal^. 

Christo. 
Bainbridge. 

William 
Fettiplace. 

Henry Ro- 
binson. 

Henry Ayrie. 



Bishops. 



Henry Beau- 
fort, bishop 
of Win- 
chesteryand 
cardinal of 
St. Euse- 
biuB. 

Christopher 
Bainbridge, 
ardibishop 
of York, 
and cardi- 
nal of St. 
Praxedis. 

Henry Ro- 
binson, bi- 
shop of Car- 
lisle. 

Barnabas 
Potter, bi- 
shop of Car- 
lisle w. 



Learned wriien. 



John Widdifiex. 

John de Tierin, 
of whom her^ 
after, anno 1 397. 

This house hath 
lately been hap- 
py in kamed 
lawyersjsir John 
Banks, sir Ro. 
Berkley, sirTha 
Tempest, attor- 
ney general of 
Ireland, judge 
Atkins, court- 
eous to all men 
of myprofessioii, 
and myself espe* 
dally. 

Sir Thomas Over- 
bury. 

Christopher Pot- 
ter, in his excd- 
lent work of 
Charity Mis- 
taken. 

Gerard Lang- 
bain z. 

Thomas Barlow. 



8 Ex Rot. Pari. 130. Hen- in the next book, sect. 11. §. 
rici IV. 24 — 27. 

^ See this recorded at large 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 296 

So that at this present are maintained therein, one a. d. 1340, 

provost, fourteen fellows, seven scholars, two chap- '. — .* 

lains, two clerks, and other students about one 
hundred and sixty. 

25. In the meantime the pope was not idle, but T^f pope 

, , . makes use 

laid about him for his own profit, knowing kmg of theking's 
Eldward could not attend two things at once. And 
therefore whilst he was busied about his wars in 
France, his holiness bestirred him in England, 
cropping the flowers of the best livings in their bud 
before they were blown. Yea in a manner he may 
be said to seeth the kid in the mother's milk. So 
that before livings were actually void, he provision- 
ally pre-provided incumbents for them, and those 
generally aliens, and his own countrymen*. 

26. Though late, the king ffot leisure to look onA.^»343- 

® ° ° , The statute 

his own land, where he foimd a strange alteration ; of pro- 
for as France lately was made English by his valour, ^nawV 
England was now turned Italian by the pope's covet- "^®* 
ousness. In prevention therefore of future mischief, 
this statute of provision was made : whereby such 
forestalling of livings to foreigners was forbidden. 

27. Our authors assign another accidental cause Man's 
of the king's displeasure with the pope, namely, worketh 

God's 
pleasure. 

^ [He left the chief part of " finitae lectionis subjicere : 

his library to the college.] " John WicklifF was commuuar 

w [Nineteen bishops are enu- ** of Queens college, after that 

merated in Wood as belonging ** probationer of Merton^ and 

to this college, p^ 151.] ** head of Canterbury col- 

* Balliol, Merton, and " lege."] 

Queen's colleges claim him and 2 Eminent for his review of 

all perchance rightly at several the council of Trent, 

times. [Hall has subjoined & [See the letter of the 

the following note to his edi. commons to the pope against 

tion of Leland*s British Writ- these reservations and pro- 

ers, p. 378. •* Lubet hac de visions of benefices in Aves- 

*• re verba T. Barlovii viri in- bury, p. 1 10.] 

U 4 



visions rea- 



296 The Church History book ill. 

A. D.I 343. that when his holineM created twelve dardinab at 

|Q TfA III 

'. — '. the request of the king of France, he denied to main 

one at the desire of this king of England. Surely it 
was not reasonable in proportion, that his holinflH 
giving the whole dozen to the king of Franoe, might 
allow the advantage to the king of England. How- 
ever, betwixt both, this statute was made to the 
great enriching of the kingdom, and contentment of 
the subjects therein. 
Statutes of 28. Yet this law of provisions (as all others) did 
n^ p!^t. not at the first making meet with present and perfect 
ly obeyed. Q^j^^jjence. The papal party did struggle for a tlme^ 
till at last they were patient perforce, finding the 
king's power predominant. True it is^ this grievance 
did continue, and wai9 complained of, all this^ and 
most of the next king's reign, till the statute of 
prcsmunire was made, which clinched the nail that 
now was driven in. So that afterwards the land was 
cleared from the encumbrance of such provisions. 
Papal 29. A good author tells us, habent imperia sues 

England terminos^ hue cum venerint, sistunt^ retrocedunt, ruunt. 
declines. Empires have their bounds, whither when they 
come, they stand still, they go back, they fall down. 
This is true in respect to the papal power in Eng- 
land. It went forward until the statute of mortmain 
was made in the reign of king Edward the First. It 
went backward slowly when this statute of pro- 
visions, swiftly when this statute of pr€Bmunire was 
made. It fell down when the papacy was abolished 
in the reign of king Henry the Eighth. 
The pope 30. Three years after the statute against the 

takes wit in , . . j . i i • . j i 

his anger, popo s provisious was made, the kmg presented unto 
him Thomas Hatfield to be bishop of Durham, one 
who was the king's secretary, and when this is, all is 



CBKT. XIY. 



of Britain. 



397 



said that can be in his commendation, as utterly a. d.i346. 

devoid of all other episcopal qualifications. How — ^ 

0Ter, the pope confirmed him without any dispute or 
delay; and being demanded why he consented to 
tlie preferment of so worthless a person, he an- 
iwered, that rebus sic stantibus^ if the king of Eng- 
land had presented an ass imto him, he would have 
ronfirmed him m the bishopric. Indeed as yet his 
holiness was in hope, that either the king would 
reyoke the foresaid statute, or else moderate the 
execution thereof. 

SI. This year authors generally agree (some few a. d. 1350. 
making it later, viz. after John king of France wastutionor' 
taken prisoner) king Edward instituted the order of ^^^^. 
the garter, consisting of 

i. One chief guardian or sovereign, being the king 
of England. 

ii. Five and twenty knights, whereof the first set 
were termed founders, and their successors ever 
since called fellows or companions of the order. 

iii. Fourteen canons resident, being secular 
priests^ 

iv. Thirteen vicars, or choral priests. 

V. Twelve military gentlemen of the meaner sort, 
decayed in age and estate, commonly called the poor 
knights of Windsor. 



^ [" There are not fourteen 
** canons resident in the church 
" of Windsor, but thirteen 
" only, with the dean ; it 
being king Edward's pur- 
pose when he founded that 
'* order, consisting of twenty- 
" six knights, himself being 
'* one, to institute as many 



t€ 



H 



*' greater or lesser canons, and 
*' as many old soldiers, aim- 
'* monly called poor knights, 
to be pensioned there : 
though in this last the num- 
ber was not made up to his 
** first intention." Heylin in 
the Appeal, part 11. p. 35. See 
also his Examen, p. 61.] 



(« 



t( 



« 



298 



The Church History 



BOOK III. 



^* Ed' III* ^^' ^^^ prelate of the garter, being always the 

bishop of Winchester. 

vii. One chancellor thereof, being anciently the 
bishop of Salisbury, (in whose diocese Windsor is,) 
but lately a lay person. The truly honourable and 
well-experienced statesman and traveller, sir Thomas 
Row, if I mistake not, was the last chancellor of the 
garter*'. 

viii. One registrar, being always the dean of 
Windsor**. 

ix. One usher, who is one of the ushers of the 
king his chamber, called the black rod. 

X. A chief herald, added for the more solemnity 

by king Henry the Fifth, and called garter. This 

order the king founded within his castle of Windsor, 

to the honour of Almighty God, and the blessed 

Virgin Mary, and of the glorious martyr St. Greorge, 

and to the exaltation of the holy catholic faith. 

ThequaUfi- 32. Four csseutials are requisite in the persons 

these eligible into this order, that they be gentlemen of 

^°^«*''"- name and arms, by father's and mother's side, for 

three descents. Secondly, that he be without spot 

or foul reproach, understand it not convicted of 

heresy, or attainted of treason. Thirdly, that he 

have a competent estate to maintain the dignity of 

the order. Fourthly, that he never fled in the day 



c [" Sir James Palmer, one 
*' of the gentlemen ushers of 
** the privy chamber, succeeded 
" him in the place of chancel- 
" lor after his decease, a. 1644." 
The above remarks are from 
Dr. Heylin. See The Ap- 
peal^ part II. p. 35. Examen. 
p. 62.] 



d [A custom adopted in 
later times, but not so ori- 
ginally. See Dr. Heylin, as 
above, who has sharply review- 
ed and corrected the errors 
of this passage : having written 
expres^y on this subject in his 
History of St. George.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 299 

of battle, his sovereign lord or his lieutenant being a. d. 13150. 
in the field. ^^ ^^' "^- 

33. Their habiliments are either ordinary, as aThdr 
blue ribbon with the picture of St. George ap- 
pendant, and the sim in his glory on the left shoulder 

of their cloak, (added, as some say, by king Charles,) 
being for their daily wearing ; or extraordinary, as 
their collar of SS., their purple mantle, their gown, 
kirtle, chaperon, and chiefly their garter. This 
being made of blue, is with Hony soit qui male pense, 
in golden letters, enchased with precious stones, 
festened with a buckle of gold, and worn on the left 
leg of the fellows of this order. 

34. They take an oath, that "to their power. Their oath, 
during the time that they are fellows of the order, 
they shall defend the honour, quarrel, rights, and 
lordships of their sovereign, that they shall endea- 
vour to preserve the honour of the order, and, 

** without fraud or covin, well observe the statutes 
" thereof." This is taken absolutely by the natives 
of this kingdom, but by foreigners relatively, and 
in part with their reference to some former order. 

35. They oblige themselves, first, to be personally Other rites 
present (without a just cause specified to, and ac-boundTo 
cepted by, the sovereign or his deputy) at Windsor ^ 
on the festival of St. George. Secondly, that if 
coming within two miles of that place, (except hin- 
dered by some important business,) they repair 
thither, put on their mantles, (lying constantly 
liegers there,) proceed to the chapel, and there make 

their offering. Thirdly, that they be never openly 
seen vdthout their Georges, which they shall neither 
engage, alien, sell, nor give away on any necessity 
whatsoever. Lastly, that they take order their 



€€ 
it 

it 



800 The Omrtk Huicrjf boos in, 

A.D.i3<o^nrter at their demth be aifelT and acdenmlr Bent 

16 F4 . IIL 

back to the soTereign, to confer the same oa one to 

succeed him in the order. 

Orte iwv 36. 1 hare done when I hare told thmt thdr plara 
ma J be racated <m three occaaona. First, by dndi, 
which lajeth this (as all oth^ honoor in the doat 
Secondly, by depriTadcm on the person's nusde* 
meanour, or want of the foresaid qnalificatHHa. 
Thirdly, by cession, or surrender; when a fweigB 
prince (entereth into enmity with this crown) ii 
pleased to send his garter back again. 

Eseoi in 37- Exccss in apparel began now to be great in 

MtnLtL England, which made the state take order to re- 
trench it. Some had a project, that m^i's clothes 
might be their signs to shew their birth, d^ree, or 
estate, so that the quality of an unknown penson 
might at the first sight be expounded by his ap- 
parel. But this was soon let fall as impo68ibl& 
Statesmen in all ages (notwithstanding their seyeral 
laws to the contrary) being fain to conniye at men's 
riot in this kind, which maintaineth more poor 
people than their charity. However, the ensuing 
passage must not be omitted. 

A.D.1361. 38. " Item, that the clerks which have a degree 
^^ in a church, cathedral, coUegial, or in schools, and 
'^ the king's clerks which have such an estate that 
^^ requires fur, do, and use according to the consti-^ 
^^ tution of the same, and all other clerks which 
" have above two faimdred marks rent per annum, 
'^ use, and do as knights of the same rent. And 
^^ other clerks under that rent use as squires of an 
^^ hundred pound rent. And that all those, as well 
'^ knights as clerks, which by this ordinance may 



#c 



4€ 



CEKT.xni. ofBrHam. 175 

** use for* in winter, by the same manner may nse it a.d. 1368. 

^ in summer'. 

89. Pass we now from soft for to hard steel, I clergymen 
„^ . eo,nm«>d fr«n the king for tt,e «ming ofX^" 
all clergym^an, "™^ 

40. ^ And besides this, the king commands and 
reqnires all the prelates there assembled, that in 
respect of the great danger and damage which 
perhaps might happen to the realm and church of 
England, bj reason of this war, in case his adver- 
sary should enter the kingdom to destroy and sub«- 

^ Tert the same, that they will put to their aid 
^ in defence of the kingdom, and cause their subjects 
'^ to be arrayed, as well themselves, and their 
^ religious men, as parsons, vicars, and other men of 
^ holy church whatsoever, to abate the malice of his 
** enemi^ in case they should enter the kingdom, 
^ which prelates granted to do this in aid and 
*^ defence of the realm and holy cimrch. And so the 
^ parliament endedfif." 

Here we see, in hostes publicos omnis homo miles, Morescaied 
none are dispensed with, to oppose an invading **^ ^"^ 
enemy. But where were these foreign foes, France 
and Scotland, being now both of them ordered into 
a defensive posture, whose invasion was expected ? 
Possibly these dangers were repres^oted through 
state-multiplying glasses, to quicken the care, and 
continue the taxes on the Engliidi nation. 

41 . The lords and commons in parliam^it began a petiuon 
now to find themselves much aggrieved, that the^^^en»g 
clergy engrossed all secular offices, and thereupon ^p^^^- 

secular 

e Pellvre in the French ori- Rolls of Parliament, II. p. 279.] P^***®' 
^nal. fs Rot. in Tur. Londin. 37 

f Rot. 37 Edw. III. [See Edw. III. 



aOSt The Church History book iil 

A. a i^7o.pt^^9ontoil the ensuing petition to the king, according 
*-/i!!Llli to tliis oftivt insisting only in the substance tbereot 
42. *^ Anil iHvause that in this present parliam^ 
•• it ^\*as dovlanxl to our lord the king, by all the 
•• oarK lK\r\>n5s and commons of England, that the 
•* jj\^vonunont of the kingdom hath been performed 
•• for a long time by the men of holy church, which 
*• an* not justifiable** in all cases, whereby great 
" nus^^hiofe and damages have happened in timee 
•* l^asl. and moro may happen in time to come in 
*• dishoriting of the crown, and great prejudice of 
*' tho kin;^ionl for divers causes that a man may 
** divlan* : — ^That it will please our said lord the 
^^ kii\g« that the laymen of the said kingdom which 
** an* surtioiont and able of estate, may be chosen for 
** this and that no other pennon be hereafter made 
•* ohauwUor. tnmsurer. clerk of the privy seal, barons 
** \>f the oxoh<\juen chamberlains of the exchequer, 
^^ ix^niptmllon and all other great officers and 
'^ ^*>\*n\ors of the said kingdom, and that this thing 
*^ U* now in such manner established in form afore- 
^^ saKU chac by ih> way it may be defeated, or any 
'^ thii\^ %K>iH* to the contrary in any time to come; 
** sa\ii^ always to our lord the king, the election 
** and n^iuovin^ of §uch officers, but that always they 
"^ Iv la^ttH*»u such as is abovesaid^" 
-|V«kM^«¥c 4c:t To thb )H*cicion the king letumed, ^ that he 
llll)!^^ ^ *'* \\\mKl oAiaiu u(K>it thi$ p^nnc as it shall best seem 
** to him bv che a^lvkv of his jeood counsel.'* He 

^ ^l«^i3aMo$. :3t :!is'' Fr^roA wv*c\ij aw: "queux ne soot 
x\(^iit.iU : v^uvc^ . "»* ^vshcr 'J^*C " rtTv? ;u»cxcuihlis en tool 

i^^i(iv\t ut ib^^r ew^^u^arvttt. ^ Et R«. PatL in Toit. 
'^ uttw\«^^ ^Nr :5. lai t^e LkOsL, hi 45 £«iv. III. ^Sec 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



SOS 



therefore who considereth the present power of the a.d. 1370. 
clergy at the council table, will not wonder if all^^ — '■ — '- 
things remained in their former condition, till the 
nobility began more openly to favour John Wicliffe 
his opinions, which the next book, God willing, 
shall relate. 

44. We will close this with a catalogue of the Simon Me- 
archbishops of Canterbury, contemporary with kingbisho'p^ ' 
Edward the Third, and begin with Simon Mepham, l^^' 
made archbishop in the first year of his reign^, so 
that the crown and the mitre may seem in some 
sort to have started together, only here was the 
odds, the king was a young (yea, scarce a) man, 
whereas the archbishop was well stricken in years. 
Hence their difference in holding out, the king sur- 
viving to see him buried, and six more (whereof 
four Simons inclusively') heart-broken as they say 
with grief. For when John Grandison, bishop of 
Exeter, (making much noise with his name, but 
more vnth his activity,) refused to be >dsited by 
him, (the pope siding with the bishop,) Mepham so 
resented it, that it cost him his life™. 



^ [See Parker's Antiq. Bri- 

tan. p. 325-] 

1 [Simon Mepham, Simon 
Islippe, Simon Langham, and 
Simon Sudbury.] 

™ [Oct. 12, 1333. Godwin, 
p. 106. Parker, ib. p. 330. 
This was a part of the infa- 
mous policy of the see of 
Rome. By abetting the bishops 
and abbots in their factious op- 
position to their metropolitan, 
this usurping see endeavoured 
to weaken the influence and 
character of the episcopal or. 
der. It is impossible to behold 



without indignation the frau- 
dulent conduct of the papal 
powers in thus sowing disaf- 
fection in the very heart of the 
church for their own political 
aggrandizement ; laying the 
very foundation of that con- 
tempt for episcopacy which 
was afterwards productive of 
such fatal consequences. From 
the time of Edward I. to the 
Reformation the history of the 
English archbishops presents 
little else than a series of the 
most vexatious and aggravated 
insults and oppositions offered 



M 



904 The Chttrtk HiMiary book ul 



V. t ■ 1 : 1 u 



A. D. 1370. 45. John Stratford was the seoond, 

'first bishop of Winchester on the Ixwd's dsjr, 



ford hit whereon it was solemnly sung, Mamy are tie ^ 



Jlictions of the righteous^ whereof he was very vppn- 
hensive then, and more afterwards^ wh^a his own 
experience had proved a comment thereon. Yet 
this might comfort him whilst living, and make 
others honour his memory, that a good consdenoe 
without any great crime generally caused his mo- 
lestation. For under king Edward the Second he 
suffered for being too loyal a subject o, (siding with 
the king against the queen and her son,) and undo: 
king Edward the Third he was molested for being 
too faithful a patriot^ namely, in pitying his poor 
countrymen's taxations, for which he was accused 
for correspondency with the French, and complying 
with the pope, (pope and king of France then blow- 
ing in one trumpet,) whereat king Edward was 
highly incensed. 
His last his 46. However, Stratford did but say what thoa- 
^' sands thought, viz. that a peace with France was for 



them by the bishops of Rome, refuge in the priory of Christ- 
who were resolved at all hazards churchy Canterbury. The letter 
to lord it over their brethren.] which he wrote to the king on 
^ [When Edward returned this occasion is printed in 
from Toumay at the end of Avesbury, p. 72, as also the 
the year 1340, he suddenly indignant letter of the king to 
entered the Tower of London; the dean and chapter of St. 
and being offended with his Paul's against the archbishop 
chief officers on account of and those of his other officers 
their failing to supply him who had conspired to rob him, 
with money for his wars, he as he terms it, of his expected 
imprisoned some, and deposed glory. lb. p. 77. See also 
others. The temper of the Parker, ib. p. 331. Stratford 
king furnished occasion to the died on the vigil of St. Bar- 
enemies of the archbishop to tholomew in 1348. Godwin, 
accuse him, and he was ac- p. no.] 



cordingly compelled to take 



CENT. XIV. of Britain, S05 

the profit of England, especiallj as proffered upon a. d. 137a 
such honourable conditions. This the archbishop H^ii!!' 
was zealous for upon a threefold account: first, of 
piety, to save the eflfiision of more Christian blood ; 
secondly, of policy, suspecting success, that the tide 
might turn, and what was suddenly gotten might be 
as suddenly lost; thirdly, on charity, sympathising 
with the sad condition of his fellow-subjects, groan- 
ing under the burden of taxes to maintain an unne- 
cessary war : for England sent over her wealth into 
France to pay their victorious soldiers, and received 
back again honour in exchange, whereby our nation 
became exceeding proud and exceeding poor. How- 
ever, the end (as well as the beginning of the Psalm) 
•was veri^ed of this archbishop. The Lord delivereth 
them out of aU^ dying in great honour and good 
esteem with the king; a strong argument of his 
former innocence. 

47- The third was Thomas Bradwardine, whose P<»^ 

Brad war- 
election was little less than miraculous. For com- dine the 

mpnly the king refused whom the monks chose : the wshop. 
pope rejected whom the monks and king did elect, 
yhereas all interests met in the choice of Bradwar- 
dine. Yea, which was more, the pope as yet not 
knowing that the monks and the king had pre- 
elected him, of his own a<5cord (as by supernatural 
instinct) appointed Bradwardine for that place, who 
little thought thereon. Thus omne ttdit punctum, 
and no wonder, seeing he mingled his profitable 
doctrines with a sweet and amiable conversation: 
indeed he was skilled in school-learning, which one 
properly ealleth spinosa theoloqia^, and though some 

o Camden in Eliz. 

FULLER, VOL. II. X 



S06 7%e Church History book hi. 

A«D. 1370- will say, can figs grow on thorns, jet his thorny 

divinity produced much sweet devotion. 

The bcit 48. He was confessor to king Edward the Third, 
yS^^y? whose miraculous victories in France some impute 
more to this man's devout prayers, than either to 
the policy or prowess of the English nation. He 
died before he vras enthronized, few months after 
his consecration, though now advanced on a more 
glorious and durable throne in heaven, where he 
hath received the crown from God, who here 
defended the cause of God^. I behold him as the 
most pious man who from Anselm (not to say Au- 
gustine) to Cranmer sat on that seat. And a better 
St. Thomas (though not sainted by the pope) than 
one of his predecessors commonly so called^. 
Simon laUp 49- Simou Islip was the fourth, a parsimonious 
bishop. " (but no avaricious) man, thrifty whilst living, there- 
fore clandestinely enthronized, and when dead, 
secretly interred vrithout any solemnity : yet his fru- 
gality may be excused, (if not commended herein,) 
because he reserved his estate for good uses, founding 
Canterbury college in Oxford. Thus generally 
bishops, founders of many colleges therein', denomi- 
nated them either from that saint to whom they 
were dedicated, or from their see, (as Exeter, Can- 
terbury, Durham, Lincoln,) putting thereby a civil 
obligation on their successors to be (as visitors, so) 
benefactors thereunto. This Canterbury college is 
now swallowed up in Christ Church, which is no 



P He wrote De Causa Dei survived his consecration only 

[contra Pelagium. See above, five weeks and four days. God- 

P- 357O win, p. 112.] 

^ [See Parker, ibid. p. 363. ^ £xcipe Merton college. 
He died Aug. 26^ i349> having 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



807 



single star as other colleges, but a constellation a. d. 1370. 
of many put together'. ^ ^' "'' 

50. Simon Langham is the fifth, much meriting by Langham, 
his munificence to Westminster abbey*. He waSand&S^' 
made cardinal of St. Praxedis, and by the pope bishop ^"^^ 
of Prseneste in Italy, with a faculty to hold as many 
ecclesiastical preferments as he could get. Hereupon 
he resigned his archbishopric of Canterbury, lived 
for a time at Avignon in France, and there buried 
(according to his own directions) in a temporary 
tomb, in a religious house of his own, till three years 
after removed to Westminster. William Wittlesey 
succeeded him^ famous for freeing the university of 
Oxford from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Lin- 
coln, formerly the diocesan thereof. As for Simon 
Sudbury, the last archbishop of Canterbury, in the 
reign of king Edward the Third, of him, God willing, 
hereafter. 



» [Parker, ibid. p. 365. Islip 
died at Mayfield, April 26, 
1366, Godwin, p. 1 14.] 

( [His benefactions to West- 



minster are enumerated in 
Parker, ib. p. 375.] 

^ [Oct. II, 1368. Godwin, 
p. 117. Parker, ibid. p. 379.] 



X 2 






1 



THE 



CHUKCH HISTORY 



OP 



BRITAIN. 



THE FOURTH BOOK, 



FROM THE FIRST APPEARING OF JOHN WICKLIFFE UNTIL 
THE REIGN OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. 



X 3 



■ . ■ . 

■ • i 



t.-: 



■ n 



■ • ■. 



.■• •- 



f- 






•••. 



i:'f 



<.'■ 



7 '■' 



THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 

JAMES HAY, 

EARL OF CARLISLE, VISCOUNT DONCASTER, BABON 
OF SAULEY AND WAI.THAM.« 



E read in Holy Writ, when the Israelites 
fled before the Philistines, who spoiled 
a field of barley, how Eleazar the son 
e^ of Dodo made them pay dear for their 
trespass, so stopping them in the full speed of 




■ [•' The right honourable 
" James Hay, ear! of Carlisle, 
" son of James Hay, the itrat 
" earl of that name, created 
" Sejit. 13, 1633 : a prodigal 
" of his estate to serve Lis 
" sovereign and his frieDds io 
" the time of war, as bin father 
" was to serve his in the 
" arts of peace ; os feastings, 
" masques, &e. 

" Royal was king James his 
>< munificence towards his fiu 
" ther, and noble his towards 
'* king James his son. One 
" of his ancestors sayed Scot. 
'* land against an army of 
>* Danes, with a yoke in his 
" hand ; his father saved king 



" James from the Gowrlee with 
" a knife in his hand : and he 
" (the son) would have de- 
" fended king Charles I. with 
" a sword in Lis hand, first aa 
■' a volunteei at Newbury, 
" 1643, wherehe was wounded, 
" and afterwards as colonel, 
" till he yielded himself, at the 
" same time with his sovereign, 
" paying 800/. composition, and 
" giving what be could save 
" ^m his enemies in largesses 
" to his friends, especially the 
" learned clergy, whose prayers 
" and good converse he reck- 
" oned much upon, as they did 
" upon his charities, which 
" completed his kindness witb 
4 



312 DEDICATION. 

their conquest that he saved Israel by a great 
deliverance \ 

Inspired truths need not the security of human 
history to pass them into our belief. However, 
other writers afford examples how one man, in a 
manner, hath routed a whole army, and turned 
the flight of his party into an unexpected victory. 

Thus the Chronicles*^ inform us, that when the 
Scots fled from the Danes, at a place called Long 
Carty, one Hay, an husbandman, then at plough 
with his two sons, snatching the yoke into his 
hand, (it is the man makes the weapons, not the 
weapons the man,) not only stopped the enemies' 
further pursuit, but beat them back with a great 
overthrow; whose valour king Keneth the Second 
(seven hundred years since) rewarded with as much 
groimd of the best in Scotland as a &lcon flew 
over at one flight before it did take a stand. And 
the memory hereof is continued in your arms, who 
doth carry a chronicle in your coat, crest, and 
supporters. 

Let none quarrel at your supporters, being two 
men holding each a yoke in his hand, seeing they 






** bounty, as that adornod his ^' language that was courtly 

bounty with courtesy; cour- " and yet real." Lloyd's Me- 

tesy not affected^ but natu- moirs^ p. 676. 
rally made up of humility To this nobleman Fuller 

" that secured him from envy, dedicated his History of WaL 

" and a civility that kept him tham Abbey.] 

" in esteem; he being happy ^ i Chron. xi. 13. 

'< in an expression that was ^ Buchanan, Hist. Scot. p. 

*' high and not formal, and a 55. 



DEDICATION. 813 

are the supporters general of all mankind, Solomon 
(being himself a king) observing that the king 
himself is maintained by husbandry ^. Besides, those 
yokes procured the Scotch liberty, who otherwise 
had been miserably enslaved to the Danish inso- 
lence. And if the bearing of arms were so ancient 
amongst the Jews bb the rabbles will have it, it 
is proportionably probable that the posterity of 
Shamgar gave the goad « for the hereditaxy ensigns 
of their family. 

Nor must your motto be forgotten, Conscientia 
miUe scuta, ^* A good conscience is a thousand 
shields," and every one of proof against the greatest 
peril. May your honour therefore be careful to 
preserve it, seeing lose the shield and lose the 
field, so great the concernment thereof. 

No family in Christendom hath been ennobled 
on a more honourable occasion ^, hath flourished for 
longer continuance, or been preserved in a more 
miraculous manner. 

It is reported of the Roman Fabii s, no less 
numerous than valiant, (three himdred and sixty 
patricians flourishing of them at once,) they were 
all slain in one battle, one only excepted, who, 
being under age to bear arms, was preserved 
alive. 

A greater fatality befell your family, in a fight 



^ Ecdes. V. 9. for saving king James from 

« Judg. iii. 31. the Gtownes.] 

^ [His father was ennobled 9 Titus Livius, lib. 2. 



814 DEDICATION. 

at Duplin Castle, in the reign of our Edward the 
First, when the whole household of Haves'* was 
finally extirpated, and not one of them visible iu 
the whole world. Only it happened that the chief 
of them left his wife at home big with child, from 
whom your name is recruited, all springing as it 
were from a dead root, and thence deriving a 
posthume pedigree. 

This puts me in hopes that God, who so strangely 
preserved your name in Scotland, will not suffer 
it so soon to be extinct in England, but give you 
posterity by your noble Consort when it shall seem 
seasonable to his own will and pleasure '. 

All that I will add is this, that seeing yooir 
honour beareth three smaller shields or in-ese^ 
cheons in your arms, the shadow of the least of 
them, with its favourable reflection, is sufficient 
effectually to protect and defend the weak endea- 
vours of 

Your most obliged 
Servant and Chaplain, 
THOMAS FULLER. 



^ Camd.Brit.in Scot. Strath- i [He died without issue, in 
®"*> P^- 7°5- 1660.] 




CHURCH HISTORY 



BRITAIN. 



HE Romanists observe, that several a.d. 1371. 

J +S Edward 

auvantagea concurred to the speedy iii. 
pi'opagation of Wickliffe's opinions ; asseverai 
namely, the decrepit age of Edward ^^^o^- 
■' the Third, and infancy of Richard his^P'!^^ 
Buccessor, being but a child, as his grandfather was ■*?*'• ^°^ 
twice a child, bo that the reins of authority were 
let loose ; secondly, the attractive nature of novelty, 
drawing followers unto it ; thirdly, the enmity which 
John of Gaunt bare unto the clergy, which made 
him out of opposition to favour the doctrine and 
person of Wicklifle ; lastly, the envy which the pope 
had contracted by his exactions and collations of 
ecclesiastical benefices ■. We deny not these helps 

*■ HarpaHeld in his Historia was compiled chiefly from Tlio- 

WickliffiaoB, cap. i. [published tnasWaldenais,orThoinaaNet- 

at the end of his Historia Ang. ter of Walden, in Essex, a Car- 

Ecclesiastica. Whatever Harps- melite, the strenuous opponent 

field has written respectinz of WicklifFe, and who was sent 

Wickliffe ought to be receired to the council of Constance, 

with caution, since his account niiere Wickliffe's errors were 



816 



The Church History 



BOOK lY. 



Widclifle 
guilty of 
many 
errors. 



^•^^37^- were instrumentally active in their seyeral degreeg, 
III- but must attribute the main to Divine Providence 
blessing the gospel, and to the nature of troth 
itself, which, though for a time violently suppressed, 
will seasonably make its own free and clear passage 
into the world. 

2. And here we will acquaint the reader^ that 
being to write the history of Wickliffe, I intend 
neither to deny, dissemble, defend, or excuse any 
of his faults. We have this treasure (saith the 
apostle) in earthen vessels^; and he that shall en- 
deavour to prove a pitcher of clay to be a pot of 
gold, will take great pains to small purpose. Yea, 
should I be over-officious to retain myself to plead 
for Wicklifie's faults, that glorious saint would 
sooner chide than thank me, unwilling that in 
favour of him truth should suffier prejudice. He 
was a man, and so subject to error, living in a 
dark age, more obnoxious to stumble, vexed with 
opposition, which makes men reel into violence; 
and therefore it is unreasonable that the constitu- 
tion and temper of his positive opinions should be 
guessed by his polemical heat, when he was chafed 
in disputation. But besides all these, envy hath 
falsely fathered many foul aspersions upon him. 
The learn- 3. We cau givo uo accouut of Wickliflfe's parent- 
wickiiffe. age, birthplace, or infancy ; only we find an ancient 



condemned. His most celebrated 
work against Wickliffe^ entitled 
"Doctrinale Antiquitatum fidei 
ficdesise Catholicse adversus 
Wiclivitas," was first published 
at Paris^ in three vols, folio^ in 
1532^ and passed through va- 
rious editions ', he wrote also 
another treatise of considerable 



importance, viz. '* Fasciculiu 
zizaniorum cum tritico," which 
has never been published^ bat 
a very fine MS. of it is still 
preserved in the Bodleian. Of 
Walden, see Alegre, p. 337; 
Oudin. iii. 2214.] 
^ 2 Cor. iv. I a. 



^ CBNT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



311 



t fionily of the Wickliffes in the bishopric of I^-^'^{^^^' 
p ham S since by match united to the Brakenburies ^, in. 

persons of prime quality in those parts'^. As for 
' this our Wickliffe, history at the very first meets 
! with him a man, and full grown, yea, graduate of 
Merton College in Oxford®. The fruitful soil of 
his natural parts he had industriously improved by 
acquired learning, not only skilled in the fashionable 
arts of that age, and in that abstruse, crabbed 
divinity, all whose fruit is thorns, but also well 
versed in the scriptures, a rare accomplishment in 
those days. His public acts in the schools he 
kept with great approbation, though the echo of 
his popular applause sounded the alarum to awaken 
the envy of his adversaries against him. 

4. He is charged by the papists, as if discontent wickiiflre 
first put him upon his opinions. For having usurped ambition 
the headship of Canterbury College^, founded by teift.^"*^**' 
Simon Islip, (since, like a tributary brook, swal- 
lowed up in the vastness of Christ Church,) after 
a long suit, he was ejected by sentence from the 
pope, because by the statutes only a monk was 
capable of the place. Others add, that the loss of 



c Camd. Brit, in the bishop- 
ric of Durham, [p. 60 1 .] 

^ [More probably about the 
y^r 1324^ in the parish of 
Wickliffe^ near Richmond, in 
Yorkshire. According to Le- 
land's Itinerary he was born at 
Spreswell^ a poor village about 
a mile from Richmond^ v. p. 
99. ed. 1 7 1 1 . See Lewis's Life 
of Wickliffe, p. i .] 

c Bale's Cent. vi. §. i. [He 
was first admitted a commoner 
of Queen's Collese, in Oxford, 
then newly founded by Robert 



Egglesfield; was afterwards a 
probationer in Merton College, 
and eventually, in the year 1365, 
was appointed by archbishop 
Islip to be the warden of his new 
college^ called Canterbury Hall« 
from which he was shortly 
afterwards expelled by Simon 
Langham, ^o succeeded Islip, 
a monk of Canterbury who fa- 
voured his own body. Lewis, 
lb. 13.] 

' Harpsfieid, Hist. Wickliffi- 
ana, cap. i. 



318 The Church History book n. 

^•^J37^'the bishopric of Worcester, which he desired, in- 
^^ censed him to revenge himself by innovations. And 
can true doctrine be the fruit, where ambition and 
discontent hath been the root thereof? Yet such 
may know, that God often sanctifies man's weak- 
ness to his own glory; and that wise Architect 
makes of the crookedness of men's conditions 
straight beams in his own building, to raise his 
own honour upon them. Besides, these things are 
barely said, without other evidence ; and if his foes' 
affirming be a proof, why should not his friends' 
denial thereof be a sufficient refutation? Out of 
the same mint of malice another story is coined 
against him, how Wickliffe, being once gravelled in 

public disputation, preferring rather to say nons 

than nothing, was forced to affirm that an accident 
was a substance*^. Yet methinks, if the story were 
true, such as defend the doctrine of accidents sub- 
sisting in the sacrament without a substance, might 
have invented some charitable qualification of his 
paradox, seeing those that defend falsehoods ought 
to be good fellows, and help one another. 

The em- 5. Seven years Wickliffe lived in Oxford, in 6ome 

ployment of 

Wickliffe tolerable quiet, having a professor's place and a cure 
*" * of souls ; on the week-days in the schools proving 
to the learned what he meant to preach, and on 
the Lord's day preaching in the pulpit, to the vul- 
gar, what ke had proved before : not unlike those 
builders in the second temple, holding a sword in 
one hand and a trowel in the other ^, his disputing 
making his preaching to be strong, and his preaching 
making his disputations to be plain. His speculative 

ft Idem ibidem. b Nehemiah iv. 17. 



I CKNT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



319 



■ positions against the real presence in the eucharistA. D.1371. 
I did offend and distaste, but his practical tenets*^ iil 
I against purgatory and pilgrimages did enrage and 
k bemad his adversaries ; so woundable is the dragon, 
i under the left wing, when pinched in point of profit. 
\ Hereupon they so prevailed with Simon Sudbury, 
archbishop of Canterbury, that Wickliffe was silenced 
and deprived of his benefice ^ Notwithstanding all 
which, he wanted nothing secretly, supplied by in- 
visible persons, and he felt many a gift from a hand 
that he did not behold, .^^^'' 

6. Here it will be seasonable to rive in a list P^fferenoe 

in the niiin- 

of Wickliffe's opinions, though we meet with much ber of 
variety in the accounting of them. opinions. 

i. Pope Gregory the Eleventh observed eighteen 
principal errors in his books ^, and Wickliffe is 
diarged with the same number in the convocation 
at Lambeth ^ 

ii. Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, in 
a synod held at Preaching Friars, in London, con- 
demned three-and-twenty of his opinions; the ten 
first for heretical, and the thirteen last for erro- 



neous ". 

i [It was not Sudbury, but 
his successor, William Courte>. 
n^, who was so active against 
Wickliffe. Gregory XI., in- 
deed, sent his bulls to arch- 
bishop Sudbury to proceed 
against Wickliffe; but the pope 
dying before the proceedings 
were ended, no sentence was 
passed. Lewis, ib. 49, 80, 97. 
Wickliffe was not, however, 
either silenced or deprived, 
enjoying his living of Lutter- 
worth, and preaching there till 
the day of his death. Lewis, 
122.] 



k Harpsfield in Hist. Wick* 
liffiana, p. 684. 

A Foxe, Martyr, i. 564. 
[Nineteen Errors. They are 
printed in Wilkins's Concilia, 
iii. 123, from the register of 
archbishop Sudbury.] 

"™ Idem. i. 568. [Printed 
in Wilkins*s Concilia, iii. 157. 
This synod was held in the 
year 1382, by William Courte- 
nay: twenty-four errors were 
condemned, but not nominally 
attributed to Wickliffe. See 
Wilkins, ib. p. 157.] 



320 The Church History book it. 

wi^ iii. In the council at Constance five-and-fbrty 
articles of false doctrines were exhibited agiunst 
Wickliffe, then lately deceased °. 

iv. Thomas Waldensis computeth fourscore errore 
in him. 

V. John Lucke, doctor of divinity in Oxford, 
brings up the account to two hundred sixty-six ^ 

Lastly, and above all, John Cochlaeus (it is fit 
that the latest edition should be the largest) swells 
them up to full three hundred and three p. 

Wonder not at this difference, as if Wickliffe*8 
opinions were like the stones on Salisbury Plain, 
falsely reported that no two can count them alike. 
The variety ariseth, first, because some count only 
his primitive tenets, which are breeders, and others 
reckon all the young fiy of consequences derived 
from them. Secondly, some are more industrious 
to seek, perverse to collect, captious to expound, 
malicious to deduce far distant consequences; ex- 
cellent at the inflaming of a reckoning, quick to 
discover an infant or embryo error which others 
overlook. Thirdly, it is probable that in process 
of time Wickliffe might dilate himself in supple- 
mental and additional opinions, more than he at 
first maintained ; and it is possible that the tenets 
of his followers in after-ages might be falsely 
fathered upon him. We will tie ourselves to no 
strict number or method, but take them as we find 
them, out of his greatest adversary, with exact quo- 
tation of the tome, book, article, and chapter where 
they are reported. 

^ Foxe, i. 586. P In Historia Hussitarum 

^ HarpsfieldfHist. Wickliffe, in Prolog, torn! primi. 
p. 669. See Wilkins, ib. 339. 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



SSI 



Thomas Waldensis accuseth Wicliffe to have a. d. 1371. 



maintained these dangerous heretical opinions. 

Of the Pope. 

i. That it is blasphemy to call any head of the 
Church, save Christ alone. — Tom. 1. book 2. art. 1. 
chap. 1 X 

ii. That the election of the pope by cardinals is 
a device of the devil. — Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 39 ''. 

iii. That those are heretics which say that Peter 
had more power than the other Apostles. — ^Tom. 1. 
b. a. art. 1. ch. 2 \ 

iv. That James, bishop of Jerusalem, was pre- 
ferred before Peter. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 1. ch. 4 \ 

V. That Rome is not the seat in which Christ's 
vicar doth reside. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 41 ". 



45 Edward 
III. 



<1 [i. " Si Augustinus timuit 
** vocare Christum hominem 
" Deum^ ex hoc quod ejus sen- 
*' sus non est patulus ex scrip- 
'^ tura,quanto magis timendum 
'* est vocare Christianum ali- 
** quern caput Ecclesise ne forte 
** blasphemetur in Christum, 
** cum hoc nomen ex Trinitatis 
*' consilio tanquam illi pro- 
" prium est servatum." f. 75* 
ed. 1532. Quoted from Wic- 
liffe's work^ De Christo et An- 
tichristo, ch. 5.] 

^ [a. De Electione Papce. 
" Quse major infidelitas quam 
** approbare electiones Cardi- 
** nalium qui ex vobis sine 
'* dubio sunt diaboli incarnati/* 
f. 131. Quoted from his work, 
De Veritate et Mendacio, ch. 
16.] 

s [3. ** Erubescant heretici 
'^ dicentes quod Petrus habet 
*' ceteris apostolis excellentio- 
*' rem potentiam quia est epi- 

FULLER, VOL. II. 



•* Scopus Romanorum.'* f. 74, a. 
Quoted from his work, De 
Christo, &c.^ ch. 6.] 

t [4. " Patet secundo quod 
*' isti tres princi pales Apostoli 
'* non contulerunt sensum vel 
" notitiam Evangelii Sancto 
'* Paulo. Sed quod Jacobus 
" qui erat episcopus Hieroso- 
" lymitanus, ubi Christus fuit 
" Episcopus, a Deo in hoc Evan. 
*' gelio Simoni antefertur." 
f. 77. Quoted from the same.] 

* [5- *' Quod Roma est 
" locus aptus ut Papa imme- 
'* diatus Christi vicarius ibi 
" resideat revera non est color, 
*' nisi in altera infami istarum 
'' causarum ; primo quia Papa 
" ibi infideliter perdit vitas 
** animarum^ sicut prius Caesar 
•* infideliter ibi perdidit vitas 
'* corporum Christi martyrum." 
f. i33> b. Quoted from his 
De Sermone Domini in Monte, 
c. 28.] 

Y 



322 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



A.D. i37». vi. That the pope, if he doth not imitate Christ 

III. and Peter in his life and manners, is not to be called 

the successor of Peter. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. S5\ 

vii. That the imperial and kingly authority are 
above the papal power. — Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 38^. 

viii. That the doctrine of the infallibility of the 
Church of Rome, in matters of faith, is the greatest 
blasphemy of Antichrist. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 
48 ^ 

ix. That he often calleth the pope Antichrist. — 
Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 54*. 

X. That Christ meant the pope, by the^ abomina- 
tion of desolation, standing in the holy place. — 
Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. chap. 32*^. 



X [6. " Si papa non sequitur 
** Christum in moribus, nee 
** imitatur Petnim in conver- 
** satione sancta, sed vivit 
** omnino contrarie, quid ipsi 
** et Petro, ut ex vita Petri 
" habeat illud nomen ? — Non 
" sequitur nisi a contrario 
" sensu." f. 125, b. Quoted 
from the same, c. 29.] 

y [7. ''Papa et cardinales 
" fuerunt non ordinati a Do- 
*' mino sed per diabolum intro- 
" ducti. In cuJQssignum nomen 
" papse vel cardinalis non inse- 
" ritur in Scriptura." — ** Cum 
'' hoc nomen papa sit terminus 
extra fidem scriptur», videtur 
quod in dotatione ecclesiae 
'• prsesumpta^ per Csesarem est 
'' inventum;et8icsiconnotetis- 
*< tam ordinationem tunc nimis^ 
salubre foret ecclesise quod 
non forent papa vel aliqui 
" cardinales." f. 129. Quoted 
from his Dial. Veritatis et 
Mendacii, ch. 24^ and Con- 
clusio xii.] 



u 



€€ 



<C 



€€ 



* Q8. ** Radicalia fundatio. 
' ficta in ista materia stat in 
' istO; quod Romanaecclesia sic 
' determinat ; sed ipsa non po- 
' test peccare, et specialiter in 
' materia fidei, ergo sic gene- 
' raliter est credendum;et inter 
' omnes blasphemias quae un- 
' quam de Antichristo surrep- 

' seranthaec est major." f. 145. 
Quoted from his Sermo £pi- 
stolaris^ 58.] 

* [9. "Christus in scriptura 
' non docuit aliquam speciem 
' ordinis de capitulo Anti- 
* christi. — Capitulum istud in 
^ istis speciebus continetur, ut 
' est papa, cardinales, patri- 
' archae, archiepiscopi, epi- 
' scopi, archidiaconi, officiales, 
' et decani, monachi et canon. 
' ici. Fratres in istis quatuor 
' ordinibus sunt et qusestores." 

f. 154, b. Quoted from his 
De Ecclesia, ch. 6.] 

^ Matt. xxiv. 15. 

c [10. •• Cum videritis aho^ 
" minatumenf, &c. Probabile 



CKNT, XIV. 



of Britain, 



323 



Of Popish Prelates. a. d. r 3 7 1 . 

•^ ^ 45 Edward 

xi. That from the words, and works, and** silence ^^^' 
of prelates in preaching, it seemeth probable that 
they are devils incarnate. — Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 2. ch. 
16«. 

xii. That bishops' benedictions, confirmations, con- 
secrations of churches, chalices, &c., be but tricks to 
get money. — Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 57 ^ 

Of Priests. 

xiii. That plain deacons and priests may preach 
without license of pope or bishop. — Tom. 1. b. 2. 
art. 3. ch. 70 e^. 

xiv. That in the time of the apostles, there were 



'' quod Christus intelligit per 
" haec verba papam sive Ro- 
** manum pontificem." From 
his Sermo Domini in Monte, 
ch. 22.] 

^ Ex verbo, opere, et taci- 
turnitate praelatorum. 

« [11. "Ex verbo et opere 
" et taciturnitate prselatorum 
" ecclesise sic vocatse suppo- 
'* nendum videtur atque proba- 
'* bile quod sint diaboii incar- 
*' nati." Et post concludit : 
" Sed quia ignoramus con- 
•* versionem vel exitus eorum 

non videtur de ipsorum dam- 

natione temere judicandum, 
" sed istud videtur esse sanum 
" atque catholicum quod Cbris- 
'^ tianus non communicet cum 

eis in sacramentis, &c." 



€C 



€t 



« 



Sermo Iv.] 

^[12. ** Suppono quantum 

*' ad istos duos or dines, sc. 

'^ confirmationem et dationem 
ordinis quod non est ratio 
quare inferiores presbyteri 

•* non possent eos dare." From 



<t 



*t 



bis De quatuor Sectis« cb. 4. 
'* De tribus dignitatibus sive 
** officiis quBPi episcopus sibi 
" servat, quae sunt juvenum 
" confirmation clericorum or- 
" dinatio et locorum conse- 
** cratio; omnia sonant in cu- 
" pidinem lucri." f. 159, b. 
From bis Speculum de Eccle- 
sia, ch. 14.] 

s [13. " Ex suggestione dia- 
** boli quia discipulorum Anti- 
" christi negant episcopi evan- 
" gelizationem pauperum sa- 
" cerdotum nisi habeant ab eis 
** licentiam. — Sacerdotes prae- 
" dicti habent ex speciali dono 
** Dei notitiam et animum 
" evangelizandi, sed nee licet 
" Deo nee homini impedire 
•* eos, ne in hoc impleant ver- 
** bum Dei, ut currat sermo 
** Christi liberius. Ergo non 
'^ licet Episcopis in hoc impe- 
" dire dictos presbyteros." f. 
181, b. From his Sermo Epi- 
stolaris, 62.]] 

Y 2 



dS4 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



A. D. 137 1. only two orders, namely, priests and deacons, and 
III. that a bishop doth not differ from a priest. — Tom. 1. 
b. 2. art. 3. ch. 60''. 

XV. That it is lawful for laymen to absolve no less 
than for the priests. — Tom. 3. ch. 68*. 

xvi. That it is lawful for clergymen to marry. — 
Tom. 2. ch. 128K 

xvii. That priests of bad life, cease any longer to 
be' priests. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 81 ™. 

Of the Church. 

xviii. That he defined the church to consist only 

of persons predestinated. — Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 2. ch. 8". 

xix. That he divideth the church into these three 



^ [14. ** Possunt quidam viri 
" religiosi ista nomina [rc. epi- 
" scoporum] habere et carere 
" veneno quod est modo sub isto 
" nomine introductum ; ut olim 
" omnes sacerdotes vocati fue- 
" runt episcopi ; et sic de aliis 
" nominibus quae modo sapiunt 
" consuetudinem diaboli in ec- 
*' clesia introductam." f. 163, 
b. From his Treatise De 
Ecdesia, ch. 6.] 

i [15. '* Tam necessarium 
" est sacramentum poenitentise 
" quam sacramentum baptismi; 
** sed laicus potest unum mi- 
" nistrare in casu necessitatis 
" ergo et alterum." f. 146, b. 
From his work, De Papa, ch. 

k [16. "Conjugium secun- 
" dum legem Christi eis licitum 
** oderunt ut venenum [cleri- 
" ci]." f. 133. From his work, 
De Officio Pastorali, xxix.] 

1 Waldensis, in several places 
of his book. 



™ [17. ** Sicut rex, princeps 
' ' vel dominus tempore quo est in 
" mortal! peccato non sortitur 
" nomen sui officii nisi nomine- 
" tenus et satis eequivoce ,* sic 
'* nee papa, episcopus vel sacer- 
" dos, dum lapsus fueritin mor- 
" tale." Wicliffe inter Conclu- 
siones Damnatas, cap. 93. See 
also I, 2, 2, 8.]| 

» [18. " Patet ex fide scrip- 
" turse et multiplici testimonio 
** sanctorum quod nullum est 
" niembrum sanctse matris ec- 
'' clesise nisi persona praedesti- 
nata, et de ilia ecclesia lo- 
quitur fides nostra, et non de 
ecclesia malignantium vel de 
'* ecclesia falso nuncupata. Se- 
" cundo videtur mihi quod 
" quoscumque prselatos Csesa- 
" reos, vel a fide scripturse no- 
" torie delinquentes, debemus 
*' non supponere esse membra 
" sanctae matris ecclesiae." f. 
81, b. From Wicliffe's De 
Dotatione Ecclesiae^ ch. 2.] 



« 



« 



<« 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



3^ 



members; clergjanen, soldiers, and labourers. — ^Tom.A.D.1371. 
1. b. 2. art. 1. ch. 12«. ^^ ^u^ 

XX. That the church was not endowed with 
any immoveable possessions before Constantino the 
Great. — Tom. 1. b. 4. art. 3. ch. 37 p. 

xxi. That it is no sacrilege to take away things 
consecrated to the church.— Tom. 1. b. 4. art. 3. 
ch. 41 a. 



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^ [19. '• Ecclesia dicitur 
•* communiter tripartita; sc. 
'* ecclesia clericorum qui debent 
esse Christo propinquissimi 
et ecclesiae triumpbanti, et 
" juvare residuum militantis 
ecclesiae, ut sequitur Cbris- 
turn propinquius qui est 
caput nostrum totius eccle- 
siae; ut patet, Ephes. i. 
Secunda pars militantis ec 
" clesiae dicitur esse militum. 
*' Ita quod sicut prima pars 
'^ istius ecclesiae dicitur instru- 
** entium oratorum, ita se- 
** cunda pars ecclesiae dicitur 
corporalium defensorum. 
Tertia vero pars ecclesiae di- 
citur vulgarium vel laborato- 
•« rum." f. 88. From De 
Cbristo et Anticbristo, cb. i. 
De Veritate et Mendacio^ et 
alibi.] 

P [20. "Episcopi possent 
" vivere continue in paupertate 
" evangelica et pauperibus dis- 
•• tribuere fideliter quod super- 
" est de eleemosynis sibi datis. 
Quod a probabili fecerunt 
apostoli qui erant episcopi 
" et multi alii episcopi in tre- 
•* centenario illo in quo vixe- 
" runt exproprietarie ante do- 
'* tationem ecclesiae." f. 280. 
From bis Dialog. Veritatis, 
cap. ig, &c.] 



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<l [21. **Non dubium quin 
" clerus noster bodiernus isto 
*• vae specialiter irretiantur ut 
" magniiicans sacrilegium tau- 
" quam peccatum gravissimum 
" et introducens opinionem de 
" re sacra quod quicquid da- 
*' tum vel dedicatum ecclesiae 
" illud eo ipso est sacrum et 
" auferre illud a vocata eccle- 
" sia est summus gradus sacri- 
" legii, sicut dicunt. Et sic 
" bona possunt per laicos con- 
" ferri ecclesiae, sed in nuUo 
'' casu auferri ab ea, et ita 
" cumulantur tempondia us- 
" que ad putredinem, tam eo- 
rum^ quam clericorum occu- 
pantium : quia simile est ac 
si ilia temporalia fuissent in 
'* tartaris devorata, quia ut 
" asserunt, licet laicis valde 
" meritorie dare illis bona tam 
" mobilia quam immobilia. 
" Sed postquam ilia fuerint 
" per illam donationem stoli- 
'* dam consecrata non licet clero 
•• reddere ilia bona — quia ut in- 
** quiunt committerent grave 
'' sacrilegium sic reddendo." 
f. 284, a. From De Sermone 
Domini^ ii. cb. 13. And in bis 
Trialog. iv. c. 1 8. " Nos au- 
tem dicimus illis quod nedum 
possunt auferre temporalia 
" ab ecclesia babitualiter de- 

Y 3 



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n 



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n 



326 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



A. D. 1371. xxii. That all beautiful building of churches is 
^^ ^L blameworthy, and savours of hypocrisy. — ^Tom. 3. 
ch.l43'. 

Of Tithes. 

xxiii. The parishioners by him were exhorted not 
to pay tithes to priests of dissolute life*. — ^Tom.l. 
b.2. art. 3. ch. 65*. 

xxiv. That tithes are pure alms, and that pastors 
ought not to exact them by ecclesiastical censures. 
—Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 64". 

Of the Scripture. 

XXV. That wise men leave that as impertinent, 
which is not plainly expressed in scripture. — ^Tom. 
1. b. 2. art. 2. ch. 23*. 



" linquente^ nee solum quod 
" licet illis hoc facere, sed quod 
" debent facere sub poena dam- 
'' nationis gehennee, quoniam 
" debent de sua stultitia pceni- 
** tere et satisfacere pro pec- 
'* cato quo Christi ecclesiam 
" taliter macularunt."] 

' [22. " Christus videtur pa- 
" rum curare de templi aedificio 
'' sumptuoso ; et sic de basilicis 
" ab hypocritis in ecclesiam 
" introductis, ut patet, Matt. 
" xxiv. Talia autem sensi. 
" bilia mundo splendentia vi. 
" dentur aperire ostium domus 
" et introducere in suum cu- 
" biculum inimicos." f. 296, b. 
£x Sermone Domini, c. 6.] 

^ [The same is stated, in a 
summary of Wicliffe's teach- 
ing, by Walsingham, p. 284.] 

t [23. " Fideles ex istis eli- 
" ciunt^ quod deficiente curato 
" notorie in suo officio pasto- 



" rali licet subditis immo de- 
** bent subtrahere ab ipso ob. 
" lationes et decimas, et quic- 
" quid fuerit occasio ad tale 
" facinus nutriendum." f. 172. 
£x lib. De Cura Pastorali, ch. 
8.] 

V [24. " Ex istis a quibus- 
" dam colligitur quod curatus 
" non debet decimas a suis 
** subditis per excommunica- 
" tionem vel censura alias ex- 
** torquere. Patet per hoc 
** quod curatus non debet circa 
" talia cum subdito suo con- 
" tendere, in cujus signum 
*' Christus et ejus apostoli non 
" exigebant sic decimas sed 
*< fuerunt de alimento et tegu. 
" mento debitis contenti."- f. 
170. Ex eod. c. 6.] 
X [25. " ' Prudentes habent 
banc consuetudinem quando 
difficultas circa veritatem 
*< aliquam ventilatur^ in pri« 



<< 



(< 



CENT. XIV. 



vf Britain, 



mi 



XXVI. That he shghted the authority of general A.D.1371. 

45 Edward 
IIL 



councils. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 2. ch. 26 y. 



Of Heretics, 

xxvii. That he called all M^riters, since the thou- 
sandth year of Christ, heretics. — Tom. 2. ch. 81 ^. 

Of Prayer. 

xxviii. That men are not bound to the observa- 
tion of Vigils, or canonical hours.; — Tom. 3. ch. 23. 
andch. 25*. 



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mis oonsiderant quid fides 
Scripturae loquitur in hoc 
puncto, et quod fides in hac 
materia definierit credunt 
stabiliter tanquam fidem. Si 
autem fides Scripturae neu- 
tram ejus partem expresserit, 
dimittunt illud tanquam eis 
impertineiis et non litigant 
vel contendunt quae pars ha- 
beat veritatem.* Haec Wit- 
clef, De Veritate etc. c. 
xvi." AUCTOR. "Ex hoc 
fundamento maxime infideli 
videtis quomodo destruit ar- 
ticulum fidei quo credimus 
ecclesiam Catholicam/' &c.] 
y Q26. "Concilii generalis 
auctoritas est universali ec- 
clesiae in auctoritate multum 
consimilis^ quamvis secun- 
dum rei veritatem disparts 
ponderis. Sed et contra 
auctoritatem ejus loquitur 
Witcleff in secunda parte 

sermone xlv. 
* Conformiter 

debet de con- 
ciliis suis generalibus quae 
adeo solemnizant. Nonenim 
accipi debet vel credi con- 
cilium apostolorum, nisi de 



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sermonum, 
WITCL. 
autem dici 



quanto creditur quod Spiritus 
Sanctus confirmavit eorum 
sententiam^ sed cum multi 
" concurrentes ad modernum 
" concilium sunt ut plurimum 
" apostatae, stolidi et ignari^ 
" blasphema foret lex vel regu- 
" la quae dictaret quod gene- 
** raliter standum est et ere- 
^' dendum judicio majoris par- 
" tis.' "] 

2 [27. The passaeeto which 
reference is here made X cannot 
find, except it be the following; 
*' Haec verba numquid sancti 
" omnes jaculabuntur in Wit- 
" clefiT, quorum sententias per 
" glossam suam facit esse. 
Berengarios de Catholicis."] 
* [28. " Fortis instantia con- 
tra orandi instantiam vagam 
praedicans libertatem sequitur 
'' ibi, cap. 7. de quatuor Sectis. 
" *Si quis quaerat quid talis 
*' presbyter ita de ratione fa- 
'* ceret cum non debet Deum 
** taliter deprecari ? Dictum 
" est^ quod unus debet in casu, 
"quo Deus inclinaverit, prae- 
" dicare, alius dicere orationem 
" Dominicam, vel aedificare 
" proximum^ aut spiritualiter 

Y 4 



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3528 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



D. 1371. xxix. That it is vain for laymen to bargain with 
hl"^ priests for their prayers.— Tom. 3. ch. 11 ^ 

XXX. That to bind men to set and prescript forms 

of prayers, doth derogate from that liberty God hath 

given them. — ^Tom. 3. ch. 21 ^. 



" aut corporaliter secundum 
** quod Deus inclinftverit faci- 
" enduiUj et sic standum est 
** consuetudini loci, de quanto 
" non repugnat regula; Christi 
" vel etiam rationi.* Haec 
** Witclef. Hoc ultimum sic 
'^ intelligitur apud ejus asse- 
** clas : Et sic non est ceden- 
" dum consuetudini loci de 
** quanto sihi videtur re- 
" pugnare regulae libertatis 
*• Christi vel etiam rationi.** 
ell. 25. '^ Quod tamen matuti- 
" narum vigiliarum celebri- 
" tatem jam diximus noctibus 
" frequentandam Witcleff in- 
" digne contrectat, increpans 
" ex ea religiosos nostros, trac- 
" tatu suo secundo, de Ser- 
" mone Domini in Monte, cap. 
''65, ubi sumens textum 
" Matthaei, Quomodo media 
** nocte clamor foetus est, Ecce 
** Sponsus veniV:— et deinde 
*' expositionem Hieronymi, 
** * quod subito intempesta 
" nocte, et securis omnibus, 
" quando gravissimus sopor 
" est^ per angelorum clamorem 
" et tubas praBcedentium for- 
** midinem Christi resonabit 
" adventus, et sic Christum 
'' venturum in similitudinem 
" iEgyptii temporis ; ita reor 
" (inquit Hieronymus) tra- 
" ditionem apostoli jam per- 
*' mansisse, ut de vigilia 
" Paschseante noctis dimidium, 
*• populos dimittere non li- 
" ceat expectautes adventum 



" Christi.* — Sequitur : • Unde 
'^ et psalmista dicebat : Media 
" nocte surgebam ad confiten^ 
" dum ^t6t/— Subdit et Wit- 
" cleff : ' Patet ex dictis istius 
" sancti quamlevis evidentiaest 
" in medio noctis surgere et di- 
" cere matutinas mode quo 
•• religiosi nostri privati fo- 
" ciunt. Ex isto sermone 
" nudo psalmistse psallimns. 
" Ac si nostri religiosi fatui sic 
" arguerent ; psalmista sic fecit 
" semel ad minimum, sicut de 
" ^gypto exivit populos 
" Israeliticus semel in medio 
" noctis, semelque veniet 
" Christus ad judicium, ergo 
" illi debent regulariter sur- 
" gere, et dicere ilia hora matu- 
tinas.' "] 

^ [29. '^ Contra haec sc. quod 
Deuspossitimpediri aut sanc- 
" torum precibus retineri ne 
usque ad quantum culps 
justitia postulat, ipse sae- 
"viat; Witcleff rixatur sic: 
" ' Posset stultus dimittere 
" opera meliora et intendere 
*' orationi^ ac si necessitaret 
'' Deum ad dandum homini 
" illud quod petit.' " Cap. 
Secundo de Oratione.] 

c [30. «' Denique subjicit in 
" secundo capitulo illius li. 
" belli de oratione contra actam 
" obligationem ad canendum 
" divinum officium, secundum 
" aliquem usum limitatum, 
" specificans usum Sarum in 
** Anglia. ' Ut dictum est de 



(( 



« 



M 



C< 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



329 



xxxi. That to depress the benefit of other men's a. d. 1371. 
purchased prayers, he recommended all men to hope^ iii. 



and trust in their own righteousness. 
ch.8d. 



Tom. 3. 



Of Alms. 

xxxii. That we ought not to do any alms to a 
sinner, whilst we know him to be so. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. 
art.3. ch.81«. 

Of the Sacraments. 

xxxiii. That chrisme and other such ceremonies 
are not to be used in baptism. — Tom. 3. ch. 45. 
and ch. 46 ^ 



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confessione, videtur generalis 
obligatio sub tanta poena ad 
usus talis observantiam : talis 
usas non est prudens^ cum 
apostoli longe magis profue- 
rint ecclesise sine observantia 
talis usus ; ideo obligare tarn 
generaliter et tarn stricte ho. 
mines ad orationes hujus- 
modi, videtur libertate Do- 
mini derogare.' "] 
^ [3^* " Quis Christianis 
imbutus principiis non com- 
pungitur audiendo Witcleff 
tarn indulgere Pelagio in 
laude operum quae vocat 
bonam ?itam^ et divinae gra- 
tis nihil tribuendum docet ; 
nee propter ea orandum, nee 
in ea coniidendum, sed in 
justitia propria vitse huma- 
nse. In libro de Oratione, 
c. I. ' Deus non vult nos 
esse in oratione vocali nimis 
prolixos^ sed omnino ut ora- 
tion! justae vitee vel operis 
intendamus. £x istis colli- 
gitur quod nemo sperat in 



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*' nuda oratione alterius, sed 
" omnino in propria justitia 
" vitffi suae; "J 

® [32. From his work de 
Dominio civili, ch. Ixxii. " Nos 
" non debemus praestare vel 
" donare aliquid peccatori dum 

cognoscimus ipsum esse ta- 

lem, quia sic foveremus pro- 
*' ditorem Domini nostri."] 

' [33* "Christus exemplar 
" totius ecclesiae non fiiit in 
" persona sua taliter confirma- 
" tus, nee in baptismo suo 
" chrisma hujusmodi, sed 
" aquam simplicem requisivit. 
*' Nee sic dedicavit ecclesias, 
" sed episcopi hoc accipiunt 
*' ex singular! opere Salomo- 
" nis ; et sic difficultatur 
" ecclesia infideliter propter 
" solemnizationem talis con- 
" suetudinis introductae." 

From Wicliffe*s De Sermone 
Domini in Monte, pars ii. 13. 
ch. 46. "Sic ipse [Witcleff] 
" concludit post multa, libro 
'^ de Papa» c. 1 1. ' Cum enim 



sso 



The Church Hutory 



BOOKIV. 



Award 
II. 



xxxiv. That those are fools and presnmptaous 
which aflinn snch infants not to be saved which die 
without baptism : and also, that he denied that all sins 
are abolished in baptism. — ^Tom. 2. ch. 99 and 108^^. 

xxxY. That baptism doth not confer, bnt only 
signify grace, which was given before. — Tom. 2. 

ch.97K 

xxxvi. That in the sacrament of the altar the 

host is not to be worshipped, and such as adore it 

are idolaters. — ^Tom. 2. ch. 26*. 



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ngna ista non sint nisi gra- 
tia ngnatoniniy signata per 
ae safficiont sine signis.* "^ 
e Q34. " Argumentum ejus 
tertiam est, 1 1. cap. Trialogi. 
Delato infante fidelium ad 
eoclesiam ut secundumChristi 
regulam baptisetur, et de- 
ficiente aqua> vel requisitis 
aliis, stante pia intentione 
totius populi, interim mortuo 
natonuiter nutu Dei, videtor 
grave damnationem infantis 
hujusmodi definire. Re- 
spondet in capitulo sequenti. 
' Concedo quod Deus si volu- 
erit potest damnare infantein 
talem, et si voluerit potest 
ipsum salvare; nee audeo 
partem alteram definire ; 
nee laboro circa reputatio- 
nem vel evidentiam in ista 
materia ; sed ut mutus sub- 
ticeo.* Sequitur. ' Illi au- 
tem qui ex auctoritate sua 
sive scientia^ in ista materia 
definiunt, tanquam pree- 
sumptuosi et stolidi non 
se fundant/ Ch. 108. Inter 
Condusiones ter damnatas, 
208. ' Baptismus delet 
omne peccatum originale vel 
actuale, mortale aut veniale 



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" quod invenit; sed de veniali 
" omissionis non oportet/ 
" Haec Witcleff."] 

^ Il35- ** Dicit rWTdiffe] in 
*' eodem^ cap. 1 2, Quarti Tria- 
logi. * ^ptismns flaminis 
est baptismus Spiritos Sancti. 
** Ideo duo baptismi priores 
" sunt signa antecedentia, et 
** ex suppositione neoessaria 
" ad istum tertium baptismum 
" flaminis. Ideo absque dubi- 
" tatione si iste insensibilis 
baptismus affuerit, baptizatus 
a crimine est mundatus, et si 
" iUe defuerit quantumcnmque 
" adsint priores> baptismus non 
" prodest animae ad salutem. 
" Ideo cum iste sit insensibilis 
" et tantum nobis ignotus, 
" videtur mihi imprudens prae- 
" sumptio taliter damnationem 
" hominis vel salvationem ex 
*' baptismate diffinire.* "] 

* [36. "Hanc tamen ado- 
'* rationis Christianae spedem 
'* ipse vocatidololatriam bestia- 
" lem: De Eucharistia cap. ix. 
" versus finem ; ubi, ' Nimis 
** multi (inquit) sunt laici et 
" bestiales nimis sensibilibus 
*' intendentes^ et multi (ut ait 
" Apostolus) in adorando hos- 



CENT. XiV. 



of Britain, 



831 



xxxvii. That the substance of bread and wine still a.d. 1371. 
remain'' in the sacrament.— Tom. ii. ch. 231 ^^ ^!'"^ 

xxxviii. That Grod could not, though he would, "" 

make his body to be at the same time in several 
places. — ^Tom. 2. ch. 55°*. 

xxxix. That the sacrament of confirmation is not 
much necessary to salvation. — ^Tom. 2. ch. Ill °. 

xl. That confession, to a man truly contrite, is 
superfluous, used by Antichrist, to know the secrets 
and ^ain the wealth of others. — ^Tom. 2. ch. 144 <>. 



4« 



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'^ tiam tanquam gentes ad si- 
*' molachra muta, prout dace- 
" bantur captivati euntes ad 
** idololatrandum. Qui autem 
'* adorat humanitatem Christi 
'^ ut talem in hostda^ adorat in 
*' ipsa Christum hjrperdulia, et 
** nemo rite adorat ipsam sub 

ratione propria. £t sic vere 

concluditur quod homo sit 
** multipliciushonorandusquam 
*^ hostia, et adorandus tanquam 
** imago Dei, vas virtutum, et 
** sic Christi verius quam hos- 
*• tia oonsecrata/ " Compare 
also ch. 25.] 

^ This is scattered in seve- 
ral places of his book. 

* [37. •* ' Si (inquit) panis sit 
** factus identice corpus Christi 
'' et illud corpus est realiter 
^* ipse Christus, ergo ille panis 
" est factus realiter Christns 
*' Deus. Sed quae idololatria 
'* foret amplius detestanda ? 
*' Sic enim haberet queelibetec- 
'* clesia dominum Deum suum^ 
'* qui reciperet preedicationes 
" abominabiles/ " [Wicliffe in 
Trialog.iv.8.] ch.S7. "'NihU 
" horribilius quam necessario 
*' manducare carnaliter car- 
*^ nem, et bibere carnaliter san- 
" guinem hominis tarn tenere 



' prsedilecti.' (DeEucharistia^ 
" c. I .) ch. 24. De Simonia c. 
'* 20. 'Corpus (inquit) panis^ 
" servando panis substantiam 
" est miraculose factum, cum 
".hoc corpus Domini non au- 
*' deo dicere identice secundum 
*' substantiam vel naturam, sed 
" tropice secundum significan- 
'* tiam vel figuram.' "] 

™ [38. This reference has 
escaped my search. I have no 
doubt of its being incorrectly 
printed, as many of the others 
were in the old edition.] 

^ [39. ** ' Non (inquit) video, 
" quod generaliter sit hoc sa- 
'* cramentum de necessitate 

salutis fidelium. Nee quod 

preetendentes se confirmare 
" pueros regulariter hoc con- 
" firmant, nee quod, hoc sa- 
'* cramentum sit specialiter 
" episcopis Csesareis reserva- 
'* tum. Et ulterius videtur 
'* mihi quod foret plus religio- 
" sum et conformius modo lo- 
'* quendi Scripturee, negare 
*' quod nostri episcopi dant 
*' Spiritum Sanctum vel con- 
** firmant ulterius Sancti Spi- 
•* ritus dationem.' " Trialog. 
iv. 14.] 

o [40. *' * Quantumcumquc 



€* 



CC 



882 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



A. D.1371. xli. That that is no due marriage, which is con- 
^* mT"^ tracted without hope of having children. — Tom. 2. 

ch.lSOP. 

xlii. That extreme unction is needless, and no 
sacrament. — Tom. 2. ch. 163^. 

i 

Of Orders. 

xliii. That religious sects confound the unity of 
Christ's church, who instituted but one order of 
serving him. — Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 2. ch. 15'. 

xliv. That he denied all sacred initiations into 
orders, as leaving no character behind them. — 
Tom. 2. ch. 109". 

xlv. That vowing of virginity is a doctrine of 
devils. — ^Tom. 8. ch. 91 *. 



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(« 



(inquit) magnusfueritChristi 
episcopus non potest quem- 
quam absolvere. — Immo con- 
" tritus quasi secure absolvitur 
" etsi humana absolutio non 
'* sequatur/ "] 

P [41. *' Conjugium sive ma- 
*' trimonium describit Witdeff, 
** dicens iv© libro ter damnati 
Trialogi cap. ii. quod conju- 
gium sit legitima copulatio ; 
" qua secundum Dei legem 
" licet eis sine crimine iilios 
** procVMre. Ordinavit enim 
" Deus quod Adam et £va 
*' et per consequens quod 
" cuncti duo conjuges in pro. 
'^ creatione carnali taliter co- 
" pulentur."] 

q [42. ''Si ista corporalis 
'* unctio foret sacramentum ut 
" modo fingitur, Christus et 
*' cseteri Apostoli ejus promul- 
'' gationem et executionem de- 
** bitam non tacerent." Tria- 
log. iv. 15.] 



(t 



tt 



et 



« 



' [43. '* ' Unitas sectse requi- 
'* rit unitatem regulae et pa- 
" troni ; tunc cum istss sects 

quatuor tarn in patrono quam 

in regula variantur a secta 
" Christie evidens est quod istae 
** sectse sunt dispares, sicutsunt 
** ordines, ex confusions pro- 
" pria variati/ Haec ille, [in 
•* libro de An tichristo cap. ii.]" 
See also ch. 13.] 

s [44. *' Quidam multipli- 
'' cant in ordinibus et sacra- 
" mentis multis characteres ; 
'' sed istorum fundationem et 
** fructum nee in Sacra Scrip- 
" tura nee in rations consi> 
•' dero." Trialog. iv. 15.] 

* [45. "ErubescatergoWit- 
** cleff infelix qui virginitatem 
" Deo dicatam et Christo pro- 
" fessam damnat et doctrinam 
'* dsemoniorum dicit. — Quanto 
'' magis damnandus est Wit- 
" deff qui contra Christi apo- 
" stolos» contra ecclesiam, con- 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain, 



888 



Of Saints. A. D.1371. 

45 Edward 

xlvi. That such Christians, who do worship saints, ^^^' 
border on idolatry. — Tom. 3. ch. 130 ". 

xlvii. That it is needless to adorn the shrines of 
saints, or to go in pilgrimage to them. — Tom. S. 
ch. 131 \ 

xlviii. That miracles conceived done at saints' 
shrines may be delusions of the devil. — Tom. 3. 
ch. 124, 1253^. 



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tra naturam boni, tales pro- 
fessiones damnat et vulgi 
religionem carnalem exaltat ; 
ita ut conversationes eorum 
communes in ecclesiis con- 
globationes aut globos indig- 
nanter appellet, in opere de 
Ecclesia et Membris cap. xv. 
et alibi."] 

^ [46. " Quid aiunt Gen- 
tiles? quod colimus plures 
deos. Quid Witcleff in dia- 
logo suo Mendacii cap. xvi. ? 
' Erubesce esse de genera- 
tione adultera nisi docere 
sciveris quod hsec signa mor- 
tua miraculose fiunt ab ho- 
mine quem asseris esse sanc- 
tum.* Sequitur. 'Idem est 
legem Christi postponere et 
ista apocrypha chronicorum 
anteferre, et Antiquum die- 
rum relinquere^ et deos re- 
centes infideliteracceptare."'] 
* [47- " Jungatur patribus 
suis Witcleff dicens libro ii. 
de Sermone Domini in 
Monte, cap. xvii. *Quid 
rogo valet omare sepulchra 
hominum mortuorum, et in 
ista hypocrisi laborare ? Nam 
nee animee nee corpora sunt 
nunc in istis sepulchris quee 
incolunt collocata^ ct ta- 



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men ex fide patet quod 
Christus est essentialiter in 
qualibet creatura, et virtua- 
liter secundum humanitatem 
per omnem partem ecclesise 
militautis ; quare ergo non 
honoramus istud caput eccle- 
sise et hypocrisim sepul- 
chrorum dimittimus?'."] 
y [48. '' Talia miracula sunt 
illusiva quia diabolus in per- 
sona defuncti potest facere 
his majora." Trialog. iii. 30. 
Quantum ad orationes et 
miracula patet quod sunt 
illusiones diaboli somniatse 
cum publicatur hodie quod 
quilibiet sacerdos consecrando 
eucharistiam facit infinita 
miracula, et tanta et quanta 
fecit Dominus Jesus Chris- 
tus, et secundum apostoluni, 
I Corinth, xiii. Si viator 
hahuerit omnem Jldem ita ut 
montes transfirat, charitatem 
autem non hahuerit nihil est. 
Multo ergo magis signa 
ostensa sive a Deo sive a 
diabolo in presentia corporis 
mortui non indicant quod sit 
sanctum ; ideo una de prse- 
cipuis cautelis diaboli per 
quam seduxit viantes est de- 
ceptio in his signis. Cre- 



384 



The Church History 



BOOK lY. 



'«• xlix. That saints* prayers (either here or in heaven) 
are only effectual for such as are good. — ^Tom. 3. 
^ch.ll5». 



Of the King. 

1. That it is lawful in causes ecclesiastical, and 
matters of faith, after the bishop's sentence, to ap- 
peal to the secular prince. — Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. 

ch. 79 •. 

li. That dominion over the creature is founded in 
grace. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 81 ^. 



** damus igitur vivis operibus 
" conformibus legi Dei et di- 
** mittamus hsec signa frivola." 
(Dialog. Majoris Mendacii, 
cap. xvi.)] 

' [49. " Dixit cap. iii. de 
" Oratione. * Dicunt quidam 
'' presbyteri Dominis qui ro- 
" gant orationum suarum suf- 
** ^agia, quod vivant juste ser- 
*' vando Dei mandata ; et erunt 
*' orationum suarum et meriti 
" ecclesifls totius participes ve- 
*' liut nolint ; et quantumcum- 
*' que clamaverunt sine tali jus- 
" titia secularis Domini privata 
" oratio nihil valet/ "] 

a [50. "'Cum/ inquit [Wit- 
" cletf in opere suo Epistolari 
*' Sermone xxvii.], * Papa ex- 
'' pleat multos casus, in quibus 
'* excommunicttus debet ex- 
'* communicationem pro suo 
" perpetuo tolerare, et hi se- 
" cundum legem quam in reg- 
" num nostrum induxerunt 
" debent post xl dies pro tali 
" excommunicatione detrudi in 
" carcerem ; manifeste sequitur 
'* quod rex et regnum nostrum 
*' facti sunt in casu tortores 
" pauperum, quia faciunt sicut 



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debent. Mota est autem 
propter salvationem r^ni 
et extinctionem nequitiae Aji- 
tichristi qusedam evangelica 
medicina, quod liceat cui- 
cumque coUegio regni ab 
excommunicatione tali cu- 
juscumque sacerdotis r^is 
nostri ad regem et ejus con- 
silium appellare. Et fadt 
argumenta primo. Non du- 
bium quin ad regem et ejus 
militiam pertinet in tali casu 
cognoscere, quia pertinet ad 
eos consensum talem nefa- 
rium pracavere ; ergo perti- 
net ad eos eum corrigere, et 
ne omissione damnentur er- 
rori hujusmodi contraire.* "] 
^[51. " Sententia ejus de 
humano dominio seculari se- 
ditioni videtur annexa, qua 
ponit et sustinet nullum 
posse censeri dominum secu- 
Larem vere, sine gratia gra- 
tum faciente, in libro suo 
de Dominio Civili cap. ii. et 
deinceps ; unde est conclusio 
ter damnata, c. xciv. ' Om- 
nis homo in peccato mortali 
caret quocumque dominio et 
usu licito operis etiam boni 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



335 



lii. That God divesteth him of all right whoA. D.1371. 
abuseth his power— Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 3. ch. 83 ^. ^^ niT^ 

Of Christ. 

liii. That Christ was a man, even in those three 

days wherein his body did lie in the grave ^Tom. 1. 

b. 1. art. 3. ch. 43^. 



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de genere.' £t de Civili Do- 
minio c. xx. ' Civilis dominus 
excedendo limites suos forte 
facit perdendo dominum et 
abligando se perpetuo car- 
een^ eoque ipso est excom- 
municatus, et exulans omni 
dominio prius habito priva- 
retur;' et conclusione ter 
damnata^ c. xciii . ' Sicut rex» 
princeps vel dominus tem- 
pore quo est in mortal! pec- 
cato non sortitur nomen sui 
officii nisi nomine tenus, et 
satis sequivoce ; sic nee papa, 
episcopus^ vel sacerdos dum 
lapsus fuerit in mortale Sec' 
et conclusione c. Ixxv. ' Ad 
verum seculare dominium 
requiritur vera justitia do- 
minantis, sic quod nullus 
existens in peccato mortali 
est dominus alicujus rei.'"] 
c [52. *'De justitia tituli 
quam a diebus patrum nos- 
trorum certam credidimus, 
Witcleff redigit ad incertum 
per hoc medium, quod cum 
dominus temporalis peccat 
mortaliter eo quod contra- 
venit primae justitis, eo et 
ipso Deus spoliat eum omni 
jure ad dominium ejus, nee 
habet de csetero nisi ad 
abusum. Unde de Dominio 
Civili cap. vi.Witcleff : 'Deiis 
limitans omni famulo suo 
continuum servitium con- 
stituit utrobique usus limites 



tt 



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" abusum penitus interdicens ; 
" ideo non dubium quin eo 
" ipso quo abutitur potesta- 
" tern, injuste occupat bona 
*' Dei sine licentia ad hoc data, 
*' et per consequens Omnipo- 
tens eo ipso spoliat ipsum 
jure suo, quia aliter indubie 
" oporteret quod Deus autho* 
*' rizet abusum quern injustus 
•' continuat quicquid facit.' "] 

^ [53. The discussion con- 
cerning the divine and human 
nature of our Lord occupies 
several chapters. The passages 
to which Thomas de Walden 
objects are chiefly taken from 
Wicliflfe's Trialogus, ch. vii. 
and his treatise de Incarna 
tione Domini, ch. iv. *' Instat 
Witcleff ; • Nunquid Christus 
pro sancto triduo fuit verus 
" Christus ? Immo vero Chris- 
" tus. Igitur (dicit) fuit Deus 
'' et homo pro sancto triduo 
conjunctim: et ultra: ergo 
anima rationalis et caro con- 
junctim erant ille homo pro 
'* illo triduo : et sic Christus 
" non fuit vere mortuus, quia 
^' anima non distabat a carne.' " 
— *V Arguit iterum Witcleff 
'^ demonstrative ducendo ad 
" inconveniens, ch. iv. * Si 
'* Christus desiit esse homo 
" pro sancto triduo et in resur- 
" rectione iterum fuit homo, 
" igitur bis factus est homo.' "] 



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The Church History 



BOOK lY. 



A. D.1371. liv. That the humanity of Christ being separated, 
45 ^^'^^ is to be worshipped with that adoration which is | b 

called latria. — ^Tom. 1. b. 1. art. 3. ch. 44 ®. 

Iv. That Christ is the humanity by him assumed. Ig 
— ^Tom. 1. b. 1. art. 3. ch. 44«. 



Of God. 

Ivi. That God loved David and Peter as dearly, 
when they grievously sinned, as he doth now when 
they are possessed of glory. — Tom. 2. ch. 160^ 



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* [55« After quoting this 
pasnage from the Athanasian 
Creed, " Sicut anima rationalis 
" et caro unus est homo^ ita 
'* Deus et homo, unus est 
" Christus," the writer then 
refers to the summary of Wic- 
liffe's doctrine, which he had 
placed at the head of his chap- 
ter, viz. '* Christi humaniiatem 
" a diviniiate sejunctam latria 
'* adorandam esse, dicehat Wit- 
'* cleffe" Then he proceeds, 
** Sed forsan quseritur; Unde 
" hoc mihi occurrit in dictis 
ejus, ubi dicit sine figura 
loquendi, carnem solam ve- 
*' rum Christum et verum ho- 
" minem. Nam si caro sola 
" a carne disjuncta est verus 
" homo : sed sicut anima ratio- 
" nalis et caro unus est homo, 
'* ita Deus et homo unus et 
'* Christus ; ergo si de potentia 
" majestatis humanitas Christi 
" esset a Verbo disjuncta, hu- 
** manitas ilia esset adhuc ve- 
'* rus Christus ; et tunc non 
** esset verus Deus ; esset ergo 
'* Christus alius et sequivocus 
** Christo nostro qui Deus est et 
'* homo. Quicquid ad casum 
*' dixeris, non potest habere 
" calumniam, immo in scrip- 



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*' tis tuis confirmationem prae- 
'* validam ; ubi dicis in cap. z. 
" ' Quod si per impossibile hu- 
" manitas Christi loret dimissa 
'^ propris personalitati, con- 
" versans nobiscum ut proxi- 
'^ mus, diligeres earn ut salva- 
torem et redemptorem tuum 
adoraresque eum latria, sicut 
prius: quia nnlli alteri ho- 
" minem a Deo poteris obli- 
" gari. Si ergo ille esset sal- 
" vator et redemptor tuus, jam 
" dimissus, jam esset Christus. 
" Nullus enim alius a Christo 
" foret redemptor tuus ; quod 
*' si digne adorares eum latria, 
** esset Deus tuus. Sicque 
" pure creatura esset tibi 
** Christus et verus Deus.' 
" Procul absit ilia logica ab 
" ecdesia sancta Dei quae est 
" merse idolatrise tarn affinis."] 
^[56. For Wicliffe's senti- 
ments on predestination Tho- 
mas de Walden refers fre- 
quently to the Trialogus iii. 7, 
and according to these passages 
Wicliffe held the doctrine af- 
terwards adopted by Hus and 
his followers, that the predesti- 
nate cannot fall from grace: 
*' Mihi videtur quod gratia ista 
quae dicitur pra^destinationis. 



u 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain, 



337 



Ivii. That God giveth no good things to his ene-A.D.1371. 
mies. — ^Tom. 1. b. 2. art. 8. ch. 82.8^ ^* iiiT 

Iviii. That God is not more willing to reward the^ 
good than to punish the wicked. — Tom. 2. ch. 153.^ 

lix. That all things come to pass by fatal neces- 
sity.i— Tom. j^ ^ j a^. 1. ch. 21.»^ 



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vel charitatis finalis perse- 
verantise non potest a quo- 
quam excidere; quia si ex- 
cidit non est ilia.' Hsec Wit- 
cleffe in prsefato libro ch. 
vii." — "Haec etsimilia tuipse 
scribi^, capite 13. tertii Tria- 
logi ter damnati. * Est 
gratia prsedestinationis vel 
finalis consummationis, qua- 
liter solum prsedestinati sunt 
Deo chari vel grati ; et alia 
est gratia vel chari tas secun- 
dum pr«esenten) justitiam,qua 
creatura rationalis est ad mo- 
dum chara Deo; et ilia est 
satis fluxibilis in viante; et 
propter assistentiam vel de- 
ficientiam talis gratise Deus 
non magis vel minus afficitur 
creaturse; ut tantum dilexit 
Petrum, David et cffiteros 
quando graviter peccaverunt, 
sicut quando modo in patria 
sunt beati.' "] 

e [57. *' ' Deus non dat ali- 
quid nisi justis, dicens adeo 
notasse scripturam, quod 
Deus pluit super justos et 
injustos, et solem facit oriri 
super bonos et malos^ non 
autem dicit quod aliquid do. 
nat.' Heec Witcliff, cap. 2^° 
de Dominio divino."] 
h [58. "'Quantum ad illud 
(inquit) quod Deus est pro- 
nior ad praemiandum quam 
ad puniendum satis istud est 
imbrigabile apud scholastic 

FULLER, VOL. 11. 



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** COS ; specialiter cum Deus sit 
" in infinitum pronus ad pu- 
*' niendum. Ideo cum in pu- 
** nitione sua sit summa jus- 
" titia, videtur quod non sit 
*• proclivior ad aliquem pr«- 
'' miandum ; ideo vel hoc dic- 
tum magistrale taceo, vel 
glosso illud secundum ter- 
minos magis certos, et minus 
** impugnabiles ; quia non vi- 
" deo magnam prudentiam 
verba hujusmodi defenden- 
do.' H«c Wicliffe, [in 4 
Trialog. cap. 12.]"] 
' Waldensis in several places 
layeth this to his charge. 

^ [59* ** * Omnia quae eve- 
" nient (inquit) de necessitate 
" evenient, quia sic sequitur 
" ex praedictis, cum omnia fu- 
" tura sint, et non potest 
'* Deus aliter rem facere quam 
** ut fecit, vel facturus est. 
'* Omnia ergo futura fixa, et 
" immutabili necessitate fa- 
*' tura sunt quod sunt.' Unde 
" primo Trialogi cap. ix. Wit- 
** cleffe; ' Quis rectiloquus (in- 
" quit) negaret banc conse- 
" quentiam ; Deus intelligit 
" hoc, ergo hoc est intellectum 
" a Deo } Sed de quacumque 
'* creatura signata antecedens 
" est absolute necessarium et 
** aeternum, ergo et consequens. 
* Et in barbarizatione cujus- 
daui Evangelii feriae secundae 
hebdomadae quintae quadra. 



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BOOK IT. 



^' ^}^''h Ix. That Grod could not make the woild otherwise 

45 Edward ^^ 

III' than it is made. — ^Tom. 1. h. 1. art. 1. ch. IS. * 

Ixi. That God cannot do any thing which he dotti 
not do. — ^Tom. 1. h. 1. art. 1. ch. 10."* 

Ixii. That God cannot make that something 

should return into nothing. — Tom. 1. b. 1. art. L 

ch. 17. ° 

Mochpity 7. Here the ingenuous reader must acknowledge 

lifle'i own that many of these opinions are truths, at this day 

lost. publicly professed in the protestant church. For the 

rest, what pity is it that we want Wicliffe's works, 

to hear him speak in his own behalf. Were they 

all extant, therein we might read the occasion, inten- 



'^ gesixnse : Christus (inquit) 
" multotiens dixit quod quic- 
" quid erit, necessario erit/ "] 

1 [6o. " • Deus', inquit (Wit- 
cleff, inter conclusiones i55.)> 
*' 'non potest mundum majo- 
'^ rare vel minorare, sed ani- 
** mas ad certum numerum 
" creare et qon ultra. Quae- 
'* runt fideles nunquid pro- 
'* ducto iUo numero sic sig- 
*' nato potest adhuc unam ani- 
'* mam recentem producere? 
" Quod si non unde venit ilia 
** impotentia vel evenit? Non 
** ex parte creaturee, quia ilia 
" divinam potentiam ullatenus 
'* alligare non potest.* Brevi- 
" ter dicit ; * ipsa Dei voluntas, 
'* quae hunc sibi numerum ani- 
'^marum fixit, ipsam Dei po. 
'* tentiam alligavit quia non 
*' potest plura secundum suam 
" omnipotentiam quam ante 
" decrevit setema voluntas."] 

™ 6i. ['* * Omnipotentia Dei 
" et ejus actualis creatio cose- 
*' quantur ; et inde est Deus 
'' omnipotens quia omne possi. 



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** bile producit. Quia nolo (in- 
" quit) vagari circa intelligi- 
** bilitatem^sive potentiam pro- 
" ducendi res quae non sunt, 
*' concedens quia nihil est pro- 
*' ducibile, nisi quod est.' Hsec 
Witdeff."] 

^ [62. '* Declarat autem hoc 
in tractatu Universalium, 
cap. xiii. ' Suppono (inquit) 
" primo, quod sicut creatio est 
'* productio de puro esse intel- 
" ligibili, et sic de nihilo in 
" effectu ad esse essentiale 
'* extra Deum ; sic annihilatio 
'* si foret, esset cessio creaturs 
" in purum nihil in effectu ; 
" sic quod existentia creaturs 
" haberet purum esse intelli. 
" gibile. £x quo videtor primo 
" quod Deus non posset ad- 
" nihilare aliquam creatoram 
" nisi adnihilaret totam uni- 
" versitatem creatam ; et tamen 
" id non potest propter Chris- 
<* tum et beatos; ideo videtur 
*< quod non potest adnihilare.'**] 
[See also ch. 20.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain, 389 

tion, and connexion of what he spake; together with a. D.1371. 
the limitations, restrictions, distinctions, qualifica- m. 
tions, of what he maintained. There we might see 
what was the overplus of his passion, and what the 
just measure of his judgment. Many phrases^ here- 
tical in sound, would appear orthodox in sense. Yea, 
some of his poisonous passages, dressed with due 
caution, would prove not only wholesome, but cor- 
dial truths; many of his expressions wanting, not 
granum ponderis^ but salisy no weight of truth, but 
some grains of discretion. But now, alas ! of the 
two hundred books, ® which he wrote, being burnt, 
not a tittle is left, and we are fain to borrow the 
bare titles of them from his adversariesP, from whom 
also these his opinions are extracted, who winnow 
his works, as Satan did Peter, not to find the com, 
but the chaff therein^. And how candid some papists 
are in interpreting the meaning of protestants, ap- 
pears by that cunning chymist ^ who hath distilled the 
spirits of Turcism out of the books of Calvin himself. 

8. Now a synod was called by Simon Sudbury, a. d. 1376. 
archbishop of Canterbury % at Paul's in London, (thoap^earebe- 
parliament then sitting at Westminster,) whither ^^ in st^" 
Wicliffe was summoned to appear; who came ac-^*^'^- 
cordingly, but in a posture and equipage different 

o iEneas Sylvius, Hist. Bo- Museum ; and some few in the 

hem. ch. xxxv. p. 104. [ed. college libraries in Oxford.] 

^B^I- '55'*] ^ Luke xxii. 31. 

P So Jo. Bale, ib. [This is a ^ See the book called Cal- 

great mistake. The MSS. of vino-Turcismus. [Written by 

Wicliffe are extremely nume- Dr. Wm. Reynolds, a Ro- 

rous ; probably none of his manist, and published at Ant- 

treatises are lost. A very large werp, 1597. 8vo.] 

collection of them is in Trinity [^ Translated from London 

college Dublin, in the Bod- to Canterbury, A, D. 1375. 

leian library, among the Har- Walsingham, p. 188.] 

leian MSS. in the British . 

z 2 



840 The Church History book it. 

A. D.I 376. from expectation. Four friars were to assist^ the 
ni. lord Piercy to usher, John duke of Lancaster to 
accompany him. These lords their enmity with the 
prelates was all Wicliffe's acquaintance with them; 
whose eyes did countenance, hands support, and 
tongues encourage him, bidding him to dread no- 
thing, nor to shrink at the company of the bishops, 
for " they are all unlearned'* (said they) ** in respect 
** of you."* Great was the concourse of people ; as in 
populous places, when a new sight is to be seen, 
there never lack lookers on ; and to see this man- 
baiting, all people of all kinds flocked together. 
The brawl 9, The lord Picrcy, lord marshal of England, had 
bishop and much ado to break through the crowd in the church, 
^ S!ureh! 80 ^hat the bustle he kept with the people highly 
offended the bishop of London, as profsuiing the 
place and disturbing the assembly. Whereon fol- 
lowed a fierce contention betwixt them; and lest 
their interlocutions should hinder the entireness 
of our discourse, take them verbatim in a dialogue, 
omitting only their mutual railing*, which, as it 
little became persons of honour to bring, so it was 
flat against the profession of a bishop to return; 
who, by the apostle's^ precept, must be patient^ not a 
brawler. 

Bp. Courtney^ Lord Piercy, if I had known be- 
forehand what masteries you would have kept in the 
church, I would have stopped you out from coming 
hither. 

t [See Lewis, p. 97. The Foxe's acooant is very incor- 

dialogue which follows is taken rect in many particukors.] 

from Foxe, who does not men- ^ i Tim. iii. 3. 

tion a sjmod having been called : < [Translated from Hereford 

nor was it likely, for Widiffe to London in 1375. Wakings 

appeared merely before the ham, ib.] 
archbishop as his ordinary. 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 341 

Duke of Lancdst. He shall keep such masteries a. d. 1376. 
here, though you say nay, ^° 111. 

Lord Pier cj/. Wicliflfe, sit down, for you have 
many things to answer to, and you need to repose 
yourself on a soft seat. 

Bp. Courtney. It is unreasonable that one, cited 
before his ordinary, should sit down during his an- 
swer. He must and shall stand. 

Duke of Lancast The lord Piercy his motion for 
Wicliffe is but reasonable. And as for you, my lord 
bishop, who are grown so proud and arrogant, I will 
bring down the pride, not of you alone, but of all the 
prelacy in England. 

Bp. Courtney. Do your worst, sir. 

Duke of Lancast. Thou bearest thyself so brag 
upon thy parents^^, which shall not be able to help 
thee ; they shall have enough to do to help them- 
selves. 

Bp. Courtney. My confidence is not in my parents, 
nor in any man else, but only in God in whom I 
trust, by whose assistance I will be bold to speak the 
truth. 

Duke of Lancast. Bather than I will take these 
words at his hands, I would pluck the bishop by the 
hair out of the church'. 

These last words, though but softly whispered by 
the duke in the ear of one next unto him, were not- 
withstanding overheard by the Londoners ; who, en- 
raged that such an affiront should be offered to their 
bishop, fell furiously on the lords, who were fain to 
depart for the present, and for awhile by flight and 

y His father Hugh CouTtney> field in Hist. Wicliffiana, 683 k 
earl of Devonshire. [Walsingham, p. 191*] 

56 Foxe Martyr. 558. Harps- 

z3 



84« 



The Church History 



BOOK IT. 



A.D. 1375. secreey to secure themselves ; whilst what outrages 
III. were offered to the duke's palace, and his servants, 
historians of the state do relate*. 
Why tbe ]0. Woudor not that two persons most concerned 
undWic^ to be vocal were wholly mute at this meeting; 
^*white! namely, Simon the archbishop, and Wicliffe himself. 
The former (rather acted than active in this busi- 
ness) seeing the brawl happened in the cathedral of 
London, left the bishop thereof to meddle, whose 
stout stomach and high birth made him the meeter 
match to undertake such noble adversaries. As for 
Wicliffe, well might the client be silent, whilst such 
council pleaded for him. And the bishops found 
themselves in a dangerous dilemma about him; it 
being no pity to permit, nor policy to punish, one 
protected with such potent patrons. Yea, in the 
issue of this synod, they only commanded him to 
forbear hereafter from preaching or writing his doe- 
trine ; and how far he promised conformity to their 
injunctions doth not appear, 
widiffe's 11. In all this synod, though Wicliffe made but a 
marJdcms- dumb shcw, rather seen than heard, yet the noise of 
Mid*^' his success sounded all over the kingdom. For when 
■ a suspected person is solemnly summoned, and dJs- 
missed without censure, vulgar apprehensions not 



a [The citizens would have 
executed their purpose on the 
duke and others of the nobility 
had they not been prohibited 
by the bishop himself. But in 
order to shew their sense of the 
indignity which the duke had 
offered to the bishop, they re- 
versed his arms in the Chepe — 
** arma ejus in foro sunt pub- 
** lico reversata." The duke 
and Henry Percy during the 



commotion which they had 
caused were at dinner, but 
hearing that the citizens were 
in quest of them fled with all 
speed to Kennington, where 
Richard the prince and his 
mother were then staying. But 
the duke afterwards took his 
revenge by deposing the mayor 
and some of the aldermen. 
Walsingham, p. 192.] 



cKjJT.xiv. of Britain. 848 

only infer his innocence, but also conclude, either a. d. 1376. 
the ignorance or injustice of his adversaries. In ^ in. 
public assemblies, if the weaker party can so subsist """""^ 
as not to be conquered, it conquers in reputation, and 
a drawn battle is accounted a victory on that side. 
If Wicliffe was guilty, why not punished ? if guilt- 
less, why silenced? And it much advantaged the 
propagating of his opinions, that at this very time 
happened a dangerous discord at Rome, long lasting, 
for above forty years, and fiercely followed ; begun 
betwixt Urban the Sixth and Clement the Seventh : 
one living at Rome, the other residing at Avignon. 
Thus Peter^s chair was like to be broken betwixt 
two sitting down at once. Let Wicliffe alone to 
improve this advantage; pleading, that now the 
Romish church, having two, had no legal head ; that 
this monstrous apparition presaged the short life 
thereof; and these two antipopes made up one anti- 
christ. In a word, there was opened unto him a great 
door of utterance^ made out of that crack or cleft 
which then happened in this seasonable schism at 
Rome. 

12. Edward, the third of that name, ended his The death 
life, having reigned a jubilee, fiill fifty years. A^*^ofkSJ^ 
prince no less successful than valiant ; like an am- ^^ ^^ 
phibion, he was equally active on water and land. 
Witness his naval victory nigh Sluys, and land con- 
quest at Cressy, Poictiers, and elsewhere. Yet his 
achievements in France were more for the credit 
than commodity, honour than profit, of England. 
For though the fair provinces he conquered therein 
seemed fat enough to be stewed in their own liquor, 
I mean rich enough to maintain themselves, yet we 
find them to have sucked up much of our English 

z 4 



844 The Church HUtory book iv. 

A.D.iayy.sauce, to have drained the money and men of tliis 
^' HL^land to defend them. This made kmg Edward to 
endeavour to his power to preserve his people firom 
popish extortions, as knowing that his own taxes did 
burden, and the addition of those other would break 
the backs of his subjects. He was himself not un- 
learned, and a great favourer of learned men ; col- 
leges springing by pairs out of his marriage bed; 
namely. King's hall, founded by himself in Cam- 
bridge ; and Queen's college, by Philippa his wife in 
Oxford. He lived almost to the age, and altogether 
to the infirmities of king David, but had not, with 
him, a virgin Abishag, a virgin concubine, to heat 
him : but (which is worse) in his decrepit age kept 
Alice Pierce, a noted strumpet, to his own disgrace 
and his people's disprofitK For she, (like a bad 
tenant, which, holding an expiring lease without im- 
peachment of waste, cares not what spoil he maketh 

^ [If we may trust Walsing- *' ac etiam contra jura posto- 

ham she greatly abused her in- ^' lare minime verebatur ; unde 

fluence with the king, who had " propter scandalum et grave 

now grown old and infirm. Ac- " dedecus, quaeexinde regi Ed- 

cordingly in the year 1376 the ** wardo non solum in hac terra 

parliament made an open com- " sed in exteris regionibus ni- 

plaint against her. ** Milites " mium resultabant milites pe- 

*' parliamentales graviter eon- *' tierunt banc ab illo penitus 

" questi sunt de quadam Alicia ** amoveri." Hist. Angl. p. 189. 

" Peres appellata, fcemina pro- A curious picture of the man- 

'' cacissima, quae nimis familia- ners of the times, if not over- 

" ris extiterat domino regi. drawn; but it must be remem- 

*' Hanc utique accusabant de bered, that it was a very com- 

" malis plurimis per eam et mon practice in those days, to 

" fautores ejus factis in regno, pick out some obnoxious indi- 

'* Ilia etenim modum mulie- vidual, especially if high in the 

rum nimis est supergressa. king's favour, as a sacrifice to 

Sui etenim sexus et fragili- popular discontent. This good 

tatis immemor, nunc juxta deed she did; she restored 

justiciarios regis residendo, Wickham's fortune, which had 

" nunc in foro ecclesiastico jux- been confiscated by the means 

" ta doctores se collocando pro of John of Gaunt* otow#p.333. 
** defensione causarum suadere. 



« 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



345 



thereon,) senBible of what ticklish terms she stood a. d. 1377. 
on, snatched all she could rape and rend unto her-^' mT 
self. In a word, the bad beginning of this king, on 
the murder of his &ther, must be charged on his 
mother's and Mortimer^s account. The failings at 
his end may be partly excused by the infirmities of 
his age, the rather because whilst he was himself he 
was like himself, and whilst master of his own ac- 
tions he appeared worthy of all conmiendations^. 
Richard the Second, his grandchild by Edward the 
Black Prince**, succeeded him, being about twelve 
years of age, and lived imder his mother's and imcle's 
tuition. ^ 

13. A parliament was called at Westminster, Lwty Uan- 
wherein old bandying betwixt the laity and clergy, a^st the 
The former moving, "Tliat no officer of the holyj^i^^t. 
" church should take pecuniary sums, more or less, 
of the people for correction of sins, but only enjoin 
them spiritual penance, which would be more 
pleasing to God, and profitable to the soul of the 
" oflfendere." The clergy stickled hereat, for by this 
craft they got their gain ; and no greater penance 
can be laid on them, than the forbidding them to 
impose money-penance on others. But here the king 
interposed, " That prelates should proceed therein as 
** formerly, according to the laws of the holy church, 
" and not otherwise." Yea, many things passed in 
this parliament in favour of the clergy; as that. 



« 



« 



« 



c [Edward died at Shene, 
June 21, i377> attended by 
Alice Pierce. He was buried 
at Westminster. Walsingham, 
p. 192.] 

** [Who died this same year. 
Walsingham, p. 190. The same 
writer gives this prince a brief 



but very expressive commenda- 
tion — '* eo obeunte, omnis obiit 
spes Anglorum."] 

« Ex Rotulis in Turre Lon- 
dinensi; iRicardill. [See also 
a MS. in Queen*s college. Ox- 
ford, collected from the RoUs, 
&c. entitled Jura Cleri^ p. 238.] 



K IT. 




rm *tn 



3DC IT -far IT crime} hj 



dins r 



trrOUe L 






r 3IIIIISQSESL JUUfelil^ 



:r^ Til ani -jok^ zree to die 



-5^ .=.-«»aE His 



^'rr^ IRK ^mmm m^ per- 
:7^ "rrzHL-n. xiciibisaiiQ oc Can- 
I "Zfc ?ifi£Li»ii^ 31 iff «*fTAp^ at 
:isr«r»iiZir^- m^t 3UW all ei- 
jr-~5"«re»i. V*ng miccui into 
£L Ji *.im*i> X fpscjanaa and 




u *«v^*' ■'*::c ^^^ H/ti^ > ?uils> '' nasi IiAmi. ' .Aiif sLSse- 

• x^*c*» "Timssisi: imi fail" ie- ma?* :£» "rcierc ieoca. ct saa 

• cti. taac Mil •nsaaaec reigwss -aa^sr ^^ ^^^ikt musvaev m 

• >fi iitw ^ smor «c ^aR. yiiTT i rn g WxcJe. p. x66. 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



347 



courtier, one Lewis Cliflford, on the very day ofA.D. 1378. 

• • 1*1 1 2 Richard 

examination, commanding them not to proceed to 11. 
any definitive sentence against the said Wicliffe^. ' 

Never before were the bishops served vrith such a 
prohibition: all agreed the messenger durst not be 
so stout with a mandamus in his mouth, but because 
backed with the power of the prince that employed 
him. The bishops, struck with a panic fear, pro- 
ceeded no further ; the rather because the messenger 
so rudely rushed into the chapel, and the person of 
this John Wicliffe was so saved from heavy censure, 
as was once the doctrine of his godly namesake, ybr 
they feared the people^ : only the archbishop sum- 
moned a synod at London, himself preaching at the 
opening thereof. We find nothing of his sermon, 
but his text was excellent, watch and pray. Four 
constitutions he made therein, three whereof con- 
cerned confession, grown now much into discredit 
and disuse by Wicliife's doctrine, and therefore con- 



In fact the bishops seemed very 
glad to wash their hands of the 
affair altogether ; and therefore 
more readily suffered this in- 
termission» and that of the citi- 
zens, with whom, as we have 
just seen, they were highly po- 
pular. As the same chronicler 
observes : — " Insuper nee illud 
" esse silendum aestimo cum 
" episcopi praedicti cum isto 
schismatico in capella archie, 
piscopi apud Lambheth con- 
" venissent non dico cives tan- 
tum Londinenses sed viles 
ipsius civitatis se impudenter 
iiigerere prtjcsumpserunt in 
eandeni capellam et verba fa- 
cere pro eodem, et istud ne- 



•c 



it 



tf 



«< 



«< 



<< 



<t 



" gotium impedire, confisi (ut 
*' reor) de ipsorum prsemissa 
" negligentia praelatorum/'Tlie 
same writer also distinctly states 
that Wicliffe, by the cunning 
explanation of his dogmas, de- 
ceived his examiners and the 
bishops, and thus escaped pu- 
punishment. lb. 208. 

Lewis Clifford was of the 
queen's household; de curia 
principissa. (Walsingham, ib.) 
and was sent by Joan the 
queen mother, a favourer of 
Wicliffe. Lewis, ch. x.] 

^ Antiq. Brit. p. 258, Foxe, 

i- 565. 

1 Mark xi. 32. 



348 



The Church History 



BOOK nr. 



A.D. i378.ceiyed more needful to press the strict observation 

iL thereof*. 
TiBDiac. 15* In the parliament kept at Gloucester this 
^jj^^^j^same year^, the conunons complained that many 
^^J?^' clergymen, under the notion of sylva cmdtia, ** lop- 
" wood," took tithes even of timber itself: requesting 
that in such cases prohibitions might be granted to 
stop the proceedings of the court-christian. It was 
moved also that sylva ccedtia (though formerly ac-> 
counted wood above twenty years old) might here- 
after be declared that which was above the growth 
of ten years, and the same to be made free from 
tithes™. But this took no effect, the king remitting 
things to their ancient course. To cry quits with the 
commons in their complaints, the archbishop of 
Canterbury inveighed as bitterly of the franchises in- 
fringed of the abbey church of Westminster ; wherein 
Robert de Haulay, esq., with a servant of that church, 
were both despitefully and horridly slain therein, at 
the high altar, even when the priest was singing 
high mass, and pathetically desired reparation for 
the same". 



^ Lyndewode's Provincials, 
lib. V. fol. 183. 

* [This parliament was held 
at Gloucester, apparently at 
the instigation of the duke of 
Lancaster, who hated the citi- 
zens of London, with whom 
the clergy were then popular. 
He had been the chief instiga- 
tor in violating the sanctity of 
the abbey church at Westmin- 
ster ; from which he had justly 
incurred the indignation of the 
Londoners. Walsingham^ p. 

215O 



«» Ex Rot. in Turre Londin. 
Richardi IL parte prima, nu< 
mero 45. [MS. Jura Cleri, 

P- 253.] 

^ [Walsingham, 214. The 

immunities of the abbey were 

discussed and settled in the 

parliament held the next year, 

in which it was ordained that 

no sanctuary should be granted 

to debtors; or if they fled 

there, their goods should be 

sold to satisfy their creditors. 

lb. 220.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 349 

16. Some of the lords rejoined on their parts, that a. d. 1378. 
such sanctuaries were abused by the clergy, to pro- ^ n."^ 
tect people from the payment of their due debts ; sanctuana 
the aforesaid Haulay being slain in a quarrel on that ^^^fj 
occasion. And whereas upon the oaths and exami- 
nation of certain doctors in divinity, canon, and civil 
law, it appeared that immunity in the holy church 
were only to be given to such who, upon crime, were 
to lose life or limb, the same was now extended to 
privileged people, in actions of account, to the pre- 
judice of the creditor. They added moreover, that 
neither " God himself (saving his perfection), nor the 
** pope (saving his holiness), nor any lay-prince, could 
" grant such privilege to the church ; and the 
" church, which should be the favourer of virtue and 
" justice, ought not to accept the same if granted °." 
The bishops desired a day to give in their answer, 
which was granted them ; but I find not this harsh 
string touched again all this parliament, haply for 
fear but to make bad music thereon. Complaints 
were also made against the extortion of bishops* 
clerks, who, when they should take but eightpenceP 
for the probate of a will, they now exacted greater 
sums than ever before : to which, as to other abuses, 
some general reformation was promised. 

17. In the next parliament called at Westminster, Aliens de- 
one of the greatest grievances of the land was re-J^j^ 
dressed, namely, foreigners holding of ecclesiastical"®^^- 
benefices. For at this time the church of England 
might say with Israel, Our inheritance is turned to 
strangers, our houses to aliens^. Many Italians, who 

o Ex Rot. Tur. Londin. 2 Ric. P Ibid. num. 46. [See MS. 
II. part 2. num. 27. [See the Jura Cleri, p. 263 and 272.] 
Parliament Rolls, ib. p. 37. a.] Q Lam. v. 2. 



850 



7%e Church History 



BOOS IT. 



'^•£-[379-knew no more English than the diffimenoe between 
II. a teston and a shilling, a golden noble and an angd, 
in receiving their rents, had the httest liTings in 
England by the pope collated upon them. Yea, 
many great cardinals, resident at Borne, (thoee hinges 
of the church must be greased with Elnglidi reve- 
nues,) were possessed of the best prebends and par- 
sonages in the land, whence many mischi^ did 
ensue'. First, they never preached in their parishes: 



r See the catalogue of their 
names and numbers in Mr. 
Foze, Acts, i. p. 562. [This 
statement Foxe obtained from 
public documents, and there- 
fore it may be relied on. The 
following preferments which 



were held by non-resident fb- 
reiguers, and certified into 
chancery, I have taken from 
that author, and have reduced 
the annual ralue from marks 
to pounds. 



COVKNTRY AND LICHFIKLD. 

Deanery of Lichfield 3^ 

to wmch were annexed the prebend of Brewood 53 
and the parsonage of Adbaston ao 

NORWICH. 

Archdeaconry of Suffolk 66 

SURRBY. 

Parsonage of Godalming, ibidem 40 

YORK. 

Deanery of York 400 

Prebend of Driffield ibid 100 

of Wistow ibid 100 

of Stransall ibid 66 

Archdeaconry of York 100 

SALISBURY. 

Deanery of Sarum, held with the 

vicarage of Meare ib no 

Church of Heigh Jutbury ib. . . 5o o 
of Stoning 



6 8 

6 8 

o o 

13 4 

o o 



o 
o 
o 

13 

o 



Chapel of Herst ib. 

of Wokenham ib. 

of Sanhurst 



46 13 
40 o 

36 

a 
40 



o 
o 
o 



o 
o 

4 
o 
o 
o 
o 



Church of Godalming 

in D. of Winton, and treasuryship 

of Sarum, held with church of 

Figheldon in D. of Sarum . . 26 13 4 

Church of Aldwardbury c. Pulton 10 o o 

Prebend of Calne 100 o o. 

Archdeaconry of Berck. held with church of 

Mordon , . . 106 

Archdeaconry of Dorset, with Gissiche ... 68 



o 
o 
o 

4 
o 



254 12 4 



136 13 4 



13 4 
13 4 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 851 

of such shepherds it could not properly be said, that a.d. 1379. 
he leaveth the sheep and fleeth\ who (though taking ^ n. 
the title of shepherd upon them) never saw their 

Prebend of Woodford and Wyvelford ib. . . . 36 13 4 

of Heiworth ib 80 o o 

of Netherbamby and Beminster . . . 106 13 4 

— — — of Gillingham 80 o o 

CANTERBURY. 

Archdeaconry of Canterbury 167 10 o 

BATH AND WELLS. 

Archdeaconry of Wells, with the churches of 

Hewish, Berwes, and Southbrent annexed . . 160 o o 

Treasury of Wells with Mertock annexed . . 60 o o 

Archdeaconry of Taunton, with the preb. of Myl- 

verton 80 o o 

ARCHDEACONRY OF STOW. 2 Richard 

Prebend of Corringham, with a moiety of St. Mary II. 

of Stow 145 o o 

Prebend of Sutton 266 13 4 

of Nassington 200 o o 

ARCH. OF NORTHAMPTON. 

Parsonage of Adderbury 100 o o 

ARCH. OF OXFORD. 

Prebend of Thame 133 6 8 

ARCHD. OF BERKS. 

Prebend of Aylesbury « $3 6 8 

ARCHD. OF SUFFOLK. 

Archdeaconry of Suffolk 66 13 4 

ARCHD. &C. OF SABUM. 

Archdeaconry of Sarum, with C. of Figheldon 

annexed : 33 6 8 

C. of Alwerbury, with the chapels of Patton and 

Farld 23 o o 

Prebend of Calne 100 o o 

Archdeaconry of Berck 80 o o 

Prebend of Worth 100 o o 

of Woodford and Wilford 26 13 4 

ARCHD. OF CANTERBURY. 

Archdeaconry of Canterbury, with the church of 

Lydden, the taxation of tenth deducted . . 20 o o 

Church of Tenham ditto 130 6 8 

Hakington in Canterbury 26 13 4 

St. Clements, Sandwich 568 

St. Mary's, Sandwich (of which half only was re- 
ceived) 800 

YORK. 

Deanery of York 373 6 8 

Prebend of South Cane 106 13 4 

DURHAM. 

Archdeaconry of Durham, church of Wermouth . 133 6 8] 

> John X. 1 2. 



i 

S52 The Church Hhtory book it. 

A.D. 1379- flock, nor set foot on English ground. Secondly, no 
II. hospitality was kept for relief of the poor ; except 
they could fill their bellies on the hard names erf 
their pastors, which they could not pronounce ; lord 
cardinal of Agrifolio, lord cardinal de St.Angelo, 
lord cardinal Veverino, &c. Yea, the Italians gene- 
rally farmed out their places to proctors, their own 
countrymen; who, instead of filling the bellies, 
grinded the faces of poor people: so that what 
betwixt the Italian hospitality, which none could 
ever see, and the Latin service, which none could 
understand, the poor English were ill fed and worse 
taught. Thirdly, the wealth of the land leaked out 
into foreign countries, to the much impoverishing of 
the commonwealth. It was high time therefore for 
the king and parliament to take notice thereof; who 
now enacted, that no aliens should hereafter hold 
any such preferments, nor any send over unto them 
the revenues of such benefices: as in the printed 
statutes more largely doth appear. 
iiieroM- 18. Whiles at this time clergy and laity cast 
Tyiw!wi?<iii* ^^^^ ^^ other's faces, and neither washed their 
Jiokstmw. ^^jj^ j.^ punish both burst forth the dangerous rebel- 
lion of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, with thousands 
of their cursed company. These all were pure level- 
lers (onflamed by the abused eloquence of one John 
Ikill, an excommunicated priest^) who, maintaining 
that no gentry was Jure divino, and all equal by 
nature. 

When Adam delv'd, and Eve span. 
Who was then the gentleman ▼? 

^ [Of Ji^u Ball see Thomas p. 247. sq. and in Henr. de 

id Walsdughani) p. 275, and a Knyghton, 2636.] 
dc'lailtHl account of this rebel- ^ [See the abstracts of Ball's 

Ihmi in the same chronicler, sermon on this text in Wal- 



T 



C£NT. XIV. of Britain. S58 

endeavoured the abolishing of all civil and spiritual a. d. 1380. 

degrees and distinctions. Yea, they desired to level '~ 

men's parts as well as their purses ; and, that none 
Bhould be either wealthier or wiser than his fellows, 
projected the general destruction of all that wore a 
pen and inkhom about them, or could write or read. 
To effect this design they pretended the people's 
liberty And the prince's honour ; and finding it diffi- 
cult to destroy the king, but by the king, they ad- 
Tanced the name to pluck down the thing signified 
thereby ; crying up, that " all was for king Richard." 
They seemed also to be much for reformation ; which 
cloak they wore to warm themselves therewith when 
naked, and first setting up; but afterwards cast it 
off in the heat of their success, as not only useless, 
but burdensome unto them. 

19- As the Philistines came out in three compa- The nhWe 
nies^ to destroy all the swords and smiths in Israel, thw 
so this rabble of rebels, making itself tripartite, en-P*"*®*- 
deavoured the rooting out of all penknives, and all 
appearance of learning^. One in Kent, mider the 
aforesaid Wat and John ; the second in Suffolk ; the 
third under John Littstarre, a dyer in Norfolk. The 
former <rf these is described in the Latin verses of 
John Gower, prince of poets in his time^ of whom 
we will bestow the following translation. 

Watte vocat, cui Thome venit, neque Sytnme retardat, 

Betteque Gibbe sftmitl: Hykke venire jubent. 
CoIleiurit,.queiti Gibbe juvat 0ocutnenta parantes^ 

(CwP quibjiis ad damimDfi WiWe.coire vovet. 

singham, p. 275. The causes w i Sam. xiii. 17. 

of this rebellion are well stated ' [At the commencemeiit of 

both by Knjghton, 2633, and the rebellion their numbers 

Stow, 283, but passed over in amounted to 100,000. Wal- 

silence by other chroniclers.] singham, p. 248.] 

FULLER, VOL. II. A a 



com- 



Bobbin 




as fir- 

ward vc" fixn. 
Bet auk » qiik^, to Gifab jnd to Hvfck, diM nothfr voild 

tJOTT bfirind, 
Gjbh, a good vixjp of that Boer, dodi hdp mad CoD more 

mkdiief to do. 
And WiU he doth rov, the time k oome nov, hell job vith 

their campanr too. 
Darie oomplainfi., vfailes Gngg gets the gainB, and Holib 

with them doth partake, 
Ixflicin aloud, in the midst of the oovd, ooneoreth as deqp 

is bis stake. 
Hudde doth spoil, whom Jodde dodi foil, and Tebb lends 

his heljMDg haiMi, 
But Jack, the mad patch, men and houses doth soatdi, and 

kills all at his command. 

Oh the methodical description of a confusion ! How 
doth Wat lead the front, and Jack bring up the 
rear? (For confusion itself would be instantly con- 
founded, if some seeming superiority were not owned 
amongst them.) AU men without surnames, (Tyler 
wa« but the addition of his traded and Straw a mock 
name, assumed by himself; though Jack Straw would 
liave been John of Gold, had this treason took effect,) 
so obscure they were, and inconsiderable. And as 
they liad no surnames, they deserved no Christian 
names, for their heathenish cruelties ; though, to get 
them a name^ they endeavoured to build this their 
Babel of a general confusion. 

y [According to Walsingham Tyler's name was Helier. lb. 

252.) 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



355 



20. Many and heinous were the outrages by them a.d. 1380. 

committed, especially after they had possessed them '- — - 

selves of London. All shops and cellars were broken rous out- 
open ; and they now rustled in silk, formerly rattling ^^ ami. 
in leather ; now soaked themselves in wine, who were °^'*®^ 
acquainted but with water before. The Savoy in the 
Strand, being the palace of John duke of Lancaster, 
was plundered' ; so was the hospital of St. John's ; 
and sir Robert Hales, lord prior therein, and treasurer 
of England, slain. But as their spite was the keenest 
at, so the spoil the greatest on the law ; well know- 
ing that while the banks thereof stood fiilly in force, 
the deluge of their intended anarchy could not freely 
•overflow. They ransacked the Temple, not only de- 
stroying many present pleas, written between party 
and party, (as if it would accord plaintiff and defend- 
ant to send them both jointly to the fire,) but also 
abolished many ancient records, to the loss of learn- 
ing, and irrecoverable prejudice of posterity*. The 
' Church fared as ill as the Temple; and Simon Sud- 
bury, archbishop of Canterbury^, after many indigni- 



Walsingham, p. 249.] 
|Walsingham, p. 248. One 
of their infatuated demands 
was that the king should grant 
them a commission to decapi- 
tate all lawyers, escheators^ 
and all other persons con- 
cerned in the law; entertain, 
ing the hope that if once these 
persons were destroyed no laws 
would be passed hereafter. Mad 
as this was, it speaks not well 
for the professors of the law at 
that time in England. lb. 
252.] 

^ [At that time lord chan. 
cell or of England. Wal sing- 



ham, p. 248 . The rabble vented 
their rage on sir Robert Hales 
and the archbishop because they 
had strongly dissuaded the king 
from going out to meet the 
rebels on Blackheath. Walsing- 
ham, p. 248. The same writer 
has given a detailed account of 
the cruelty exercised towards 
the archbishop. lb. 250. He 
was first struck on his neck by 
•an axe, but the wound not 
proving mortal, he raised his 
hand to his head, exclaiming, 
" Ah ! ah ! It is the hand of 
" the Lord ! " Before he could 
remove his hand the execu- 

A a 2 



SS6 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



A. D. 1380. ties offered him, was at last by them beheaded on 

^ ^Tower-hill, patiently ending las life, and dying a 

state-martyr. But most fiercely fell their fnry on 

the Dutch in London, (ofibnded, belike, with them 

for engrossing of trade,) and these words, '' bread and 

^ dheese,"* were their neck-verse, ot Shibboleth, to 

distinguish them ; all pronouncing ^ broad and cause," 

being presently put to death. Of all people only 

some Franciscan friars found favour in their sight, 

whom they intended to preserved What quality, to 

us occult, conmiended them to their mercy ? Was it 

because they were the most ignorant of other friars, 

and so the likest to themselves? But perchance 

these rebels, if demanded, were as unable to render 

a reason why they spared these, as why they spoiled 

others; being equally irrational in their kindnesses 

as in their cruelties. 

judatand 21. When I read that passage of Judas in the 

^^leied. counsel of Gamaliel^ it seemeth to me plainly to 

describe the rising, increase, and ruin of these 

rebels : 

i. Rising. There rose up Judas of Galilee in the 
days of the taadng: so Tyler appeared, and this re- 
bellion was caused by poll-money, heavily imposed 
by the king, and the arrears thereof more cruelly 
exacted by his courtiers that farmed it. And pity it 



tioner repeating the blow am- 
putated the tips of his fingers; 
yet notwithstanding all this ex- 
tremity of cruelty, suffering, 
and mutilation, he expired, not 
until the blow had been eight 
times repeated.] 

^ See Godwin, de Prsesul. 
-^"gl* [p- 435- Walsingham 



stoutly accuses the mendicant 
orders of being the fomenters 
of this rebellion ; and this re- 
ceives some countenance from 
the fact that the rebels in- 
tended to give quarter to no 
ecclesiastics except to the friars. 
Chron. 265, 6.] 
*^ Acts, V. 37. 



C£NT. xiv. of Britain. S57 

k fio foul a rebellion could pretend so fair an oom^A.D.1380. 

sion i&t the extenuating thereof. '— 

ii. IncMrease. And d/rew away much people after 
him : so the snowball increased here. John Gower 
telleth us in his parallel of the martyring of Simon 
Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury, with Thomas 
Beeket, his predecessor®, 

Quatuor in mortem spirarunt fcedera Thomse ; 
Simonis et centum mille dedere necem. 

But four conspirM Thomas his blood to spill ; 
Whiles hundred thousands Simon help to kill. 

Nor was this any poetical hjrperbole, but an histori- 
cal truth, if the several numbers of their three armies 
were summed up together. 

iiii Ruin. He also perished^ and ally even as mamf 
as obeyed him^ were dispersed: so here, no sooner 
was Wat Tyler, their general (as I may term him) 
killed by valiant Walworth, the lord mayor of Lon- 
don, and his assistance (for it was John Cavendish, 
esq., that despatched him with a mortal wound^) in 
Smithfield ; and Jack Straw, their lieutenant-general, 
legally beheaded^ (too brave a death for so base a 
fellow) but all the rest mouldered away and va- 
nished. 

In memory of sir William Walworth's valour^ 
the arms of London, formerly a plain cross, were 



® In his book called *' Vox given several particulars not 

'* Clamantis," lib. i. cap. 14. to be found in the printed 

f Weever's Funeral Monu- Chroniclers.] 
ments, p. 693. h [Created a knight^ with 

ff Stow, Survey of London, sir John Cavendish, for their 

p. 53. and 236. [and Stow's valour on this occasion. Stow*s 

Chronicle, p. 289. who has Chron. 288.] 

A a 3 



S58 The Church History book iv. 

A. D. 1380. augmented with the addition of a dagger, to make 

' '-^ the coat in all points complete ^. Happy when the- 

cross (as first there in place) directeth the dagger, 
and when the dagger defendeth the cross; when 
religion sanctifieth power, and power supporteth 
religion. 
dlllIS!th^ 22. But Alanus Copus (for he it is whose Ecde-^ 
this rebel, siastical Historj of England goes under the name 
Widiffe^t of Harpsfield) heavily chargeth all this rebellion on 
the account of Wicliffe's doctrine; "whose scho- 
lars," saith he ", " to promote their master's opinions, 
" stirred up this deadly and damnable sedition, and 
" sounded the first trumpet thereunto." Adding 
moreover, that Wicliffe's tenet, that " Dominion is 
" founded in grace, and that a king guilty of mortal 
" sin is no longer lord of any thing,*' was cos hujus 
sedilionisy the whetstone of this sedition. But to 
what liar the whetstone doth properly belong will 
presently appear. 
His maU- 23. It is uo nows for the best of God's children 

cioas uan- 

der con- to be slandered in this kind. Jeremy was traduced, 
Thou f attest away to the Chaldeans i ; St. Paul was 
accused. We have found this man a pestilent Jellow, 
a mover of sedition ^ ; yea, our Saviour himself was 
charged, that He made himself a king^ and was a 
traitor to Caesar ^ But as these were foul and false 
aspersions, so will this appear, if we consider. 



^ [This is positively denied the sword of St. Paul. See the 

by Stow. The old seal of the Survey, p. 237.] 

city, being unfit for use, was ^ In his Hist. Wicliffiana, 

broken, and a new one em* cap. 12. 

ployed, a little prior to this J Jer. xxxvii. 13. 

time ; but the old arms of the ^ Acts xxiv. 5. 

city were not altered, but re- 1 John xix. 12. 
mained as before, a cross, with 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain, 



859 



i. When John Ball was executed at St. Albans, a. d. 1380. 
and Jack Straw at London >», not the least com- ^ 
pliance with Wicliffe or his doctrine is either 
charged on them or confessed by them ^. 

ii. No wild beast will prey on his own kind. 
Now it is certainly known that John of Gaunt, 
duke of Lancaster, was the principal patron and 
supporter of Wicliffe, whose life they sought to 
destroy, and whose palace in the Strand they 
pillaged ^. 

iii. Wicliffe himself came within the compass 
of their destructive principles, designing the death 
of all who wore a pen and ink ; and that Wicliffe 
had both pen and ink Cope himself doth know, 
and the court of Rome with shame and sorrow will 
confess. 

iv. Wicliffe lived some years after, and died 
peaceably possessed of the living of Lutterworth, 
in Leicestershire. Surely, had he been reputed the 
inflamer of this rebellion, the wisdom of the king 
and council would have taken another order with 
him. 



m 



See his confession at large 
in Stow's Survey of London, 
P* 54- [Walsingham, 265, 275. 
Both these persons were priests. 
Walsingh .261. Robert West- 
brom also^ the chief of the east- 
ern party^ was also a priest, 
lb. 265.] 

^ [This is not exactly cor- 
rect; for the former is expli- 
citly charged with teaching 
Wicliffe's doctrines. See Wal- 
singh. p. 275 ; and Henry de 
Knyghton, a canon of Leices- 
ter, of the same church as Ri- 
pindon, Wicliffe's friend and 



follower, by no means unfa- 
vourable to Wicliffe^ states 
that Ball was Wicliffe's pre- 
cursor: **Hic habuit praecur- 
" sorera Johannem Balle veluti 
*' Christus Johannem Baptis- 
" tam, qui vias suas in talibus 
" opinionibus praeparavit, et 
plurimos quoque doctrina 
sua ut dicitur perturbavit." 
2644.] 

« [Through hatred of this 
nobleman, giving out that they 
would never accept a king 
whose name was John. Wal- 
singh. p. 248.] 

Aa 4 



<t 



<i 



^ 



SGO The Church History book iv. 

A. D. 1380. V. Amongst the articleB laid to the change of 
4 Rich. II, wi^],'ffi^ ^jy^ jjg followers, in this king's reij^ 

examined at Oxford and eLsfiewhere, not a tittle of 
this rebellion is pressed upon them; which their 
malicious adversaries would not have omitted, if 
in any hope to make good that accusation against 
him. 

vi. Whereas it is charged on Wicliffe that he 
held that dominion was founded in grace, which 
occasioned this rebellion ; we know this, that Hiiss^ 
his scholar, though he did hold that a king, being 
in mortal sin, was only called a king €Bquivoea 
denominoMone^ yet the same Huss confesseth, (to 
use his own words p,) ipsum Deum hujusmodi regem 
apprcbare qtwad esse principem eMerius^ that God 
himself allows such a king to be a prince in all 
outward matters. So that, leaving him to divine 
justice, he never dreamt of any resistance or rebel- 
lion to be made against him. 

vii. The modem Protestants (heirs, say the papist^ 
to Wicliffe's doctrine) so far abominate these reh^ 
their levelling and ignorant principles, that they are 
known both to maintain distances of people, and to 
have been the restorers of lost, yea, the revivers of 
dead, learning and languages. How had the mathe- 
matics measured their own grave, Greek turned 
barbarism, Hebrew (as it readeth) gone backward, 
never to return again, had not Protestant critics, 
with vast pains and expense, preserved them ! 

P IIuss, Tract de Decimis, of Huss, but the summary of 

C. laB, [ed. 155S.] See his argument by Davenant, 

ishop I)avenant*8 Determina- from whom the question is 

tion, [Quiest. xxx. p. 1 36. ed. derived.] 
1639. These are not the words 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



861 



viif. it is more suspicious, that this rebellion came a. d. 1380. 
out of the Franciscan convent, because some nf ^ ' ' * 
these,' belike, were the rebels' whiteboys, and, as is 
afore-mentioned, to be spared in a general destruc- 
tion. 

In a word, I wonder how many ingenuous papists 
can charge Wicliffe of rebellion, in maintaining 
dominion to be founded in grace, when the grandees 
of their own religion (Aquine, Cajetan, Bellarmine, 
Suarez) maintain that dominion is so founded in 
grace, (in the pope,) that a king, by him excommu- 
nicate, may lawfully be deposed and murdered. 

24. William Courtenay, archbishop of Canter- ad. 1382. 
bury % (in the place of Simon Sudbury, lately slain,) Courtenay 

J 1 . J X T J 'J. persecutes 

made cruel canons, m a synod at London, agamst {he Wie- 
the maintainors of Wicliffe his opinions*^; and^****"* 
I wonder that in Lyndewood's Constitutions, no 
mention at all of any canons made by this arch- 
bishop, who sat above ten years in the see. As for 
the heavy persecution which soon after he raised 
against Robert Rugge, Thomas Brightwell, Nicholas 
de Hereford, Philip Ripington, &c. ^ nothing can be 
added to what Mr. Foxe hath related *. 

25. In my mind it amounteth to little less than a widiffe his 
miracle, that during this storm on his disciples, S^Ju^il^. 
Wicliffe their master should live in quiet : strange 



4 [Late bishop of London.]] 
r [Walsingham, 285.] 

5 [See an account of these 
persons in Lewis's Wicliffe, 
chap. X. Robert Rugge was 
chancellor of the university of 
Oxford ; Ripindon was also of 
the same university, and canon 
of Leicester ; Brightwell was 
also a doctor of divinity of the 



same university, and probably 
related to Dr. Nicholas Bright- 
well, dean of Newark, in 
Leicester, chancellor of Ox- 
ford in 1388. Hereford's 
protestation is in Knyghton. 
2655. See also Stow, p. 302.] 
^ [In his Acts, &c. I. p. 57 1 . 
sq.] 



<^4 



868 TAe Church HUtory 

A.D. laSi-that he was not drowned in so strong a- 
6 Ridi. ri. " 
ran against him, whose safety (under C 

vidence) is not so much to be ascribed t 

strength in swimming as to such as heli 

by the chin — the greatness of his noble s 

About this time he ended his translatit 

Bible into English ", (a fair copy wl 

Queen's College, in Oxford, and two mo 

University Library,) done no doubt in 

expressive language of those days, though 

uncouth to our ears : The knave of Jesus ( 

servant ; and Philip baptized the gelding, fi 

Acts viii. ; so much our tongue is impro'' 

age. As for the report of Polydore Virgi 

him to fly out of England in the time o 

the Third, et in magna pretio apud Bohen 

and to have been of high esteem amongst 

mians ; it is true of Wicliflfe's writings, b 

his person, who never departed his native « 

A. D. 1385. 26. Not long after, therein he ended ] 

d^""** his cure at Lutterworth, in Leicestershi] 

palsy *. Admirable, that a hare so ofte 

with so many packs of dogs should di 

quietly sitting in his form. Parsons t 

snarls at Mr. Foxe for counting Wicliffe 

in his Calendar, as, so far from sufferin 

death, that he was never so much as impr 

the opinion he maintained. Bat the pi 

be justified in the large acception of th' 

for a witness of the truth ; besides, the 

Wicliife was martyred as to shame, thou; 

" [Leland, De Script. Brit. [In Com. de Seripl 

380.] 379. ed. Hall, 1701 

' Leland, excroDicoTinensi. Walaingh. 311.] 



CENT* XIV. a/ Britain. 868 

pain, as far as his adversaries' cruelty could extend, a. d. 1385. 
being taken up and burnt many years after his — — — 1 
death, as (God willing) we shall shew hereafter. 

27. William Wickham about this time finished a. d. 1386. 

New college 

his beautiful college in Oxford ^. Some have raised buUt by 
a scandal of him, that he was no scholar at all, from wi<SSiam. 
which the very meanest scholar in his foundation 
can acquit him by that rule in logic, Quod efficit tale 
magis est tale : what maketh the same is more the 
same ; by which his learning must be inferred, whose 
bounty caused so many learned men. Now because 
the maxim runneth with a limitation. Si sit tale^ (if 
it be the same,) the truth hereof also appears from 
the learned pen ^, who, writing Wickham's life, hath 
proved him to have been a sufficient scholar, skilled 
in other arts, as well as in practical mathematics and 
architecture. 

28. Now as Solomon, when about to build his industry 
house at Millo, seeing Jeroboam to be an Indus- menu/' 
trious man, made him master of his fabric ^^ sof^^^" 
Edward the Third, discovering the like sufficiency in^^^^^' 
this great clerk, employed him in all his stately meat, 
structures : witness this in motto at Windsor 
Castle, This made Wickham, meaning that the 
building of that castle gave occasion to his wealth 

and honour ; whereas on this college he might write. 
This Wickham made, the building and endowing 
thereof being the effect of his bounty alone : hence 

y It was begun anno 1375. complectens vitam ac res gestas 

[The first stone was laid March beatissimi viri Guilielmi Wi- 

5, 1380; it was finished in cami, quondam Vintoniensis 

April, 1386.] Episcopi et Anglise Cancellarii, 

^ Dr. Martin, who wrote a &c. Londini, 1 597. 4to.] 
book in vindication of his ^ 1 Kings xi. 26. 
learning : [Historica Descriptio 



864 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



A 

10 



•^:!3^Mt is that this college giveth the anns of Wickham, 

viz. two chevrons betwixt three roses, each chevron 

allading to two beams fastened together, (called 
couples in building,) to speak his skill in architec- 
ture ^ 
A cMtie- 29. This college he built veiy strong, out of a 
^^nfd fOT design ^ that it should be able to hold out a siege 
defence. ^£ itself, if uccd SO required it ; though may it never 
have a temptation in that kind, to try the strength 
of the walls thereof! Indeed this college, with 
Bourges in France, may lay claim to the name of 
Bituris : 

Turribus a binis inde yocor Bituris ; 

SO called from two towers therein, as this hath the 
like : one over the gate, the other over the porch, 
in the entrance into the hall ; so that it may seem 
a castle college, and made as well for defence as 
habitation. So that at this present is maintained 
therein a warden, seventy fellows and scholars, ten 
chaplains, three clerks, one organist, sixteen choris- 
ters, besides officers and servants of the foundation, 
with other students ; being in all one hundred thirty- 
five. 
A.D. 1392. pg^g j^Q jjQ^ from his orchard of grown trees to 

A college at ° 

Winchester his uurscry of grafts, the college at Winchester, 
by bishop which a few years after the same bishop finished \ 

Wickham. 



^ Wake*8 Rex Platonicus, 
p. 144. 

c So say the statutes of this 
college. 

d [" His monument at Ox- 
'* ford. New College, supposed 
*' to have taken its name from 
'' an ancient hostle, sometime 
'* standing on its site, called 



" St. Neot's Hall, was first 
" began, of which more anon. 
" The very next year after it 
" was finished he began his 
" other college by Winchester, 
" the first stone of which was 
** laid 26th of March, at three 
" of the clock in the morning, 
" anno 1387, and in six years' 



CSNT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



366 



not much inferior to the former for building and a. d. 1392. 

*^ 16 Rich. 11. 

endowments, as wherein he established one warden, 

ten fellows, two schoolmasters, and seventy scholars, 
with officers and servants, which are all maintained 
at his charge; out of which school he ordained 
should be chosen the best scholars always to supply 
the vacant places of the fellows of this college *. 

SI. As his charity, so his fiiith (he that provideth^}\^^^oT 

/•It 1 - ^ T T\ ^** kindred. 

not for his house is worse than an tnfidet) appeared 
in this his foundation ; ordering that his own kins- 
men should be preferred before others ^. Let their 
parents therefore but provide for their nursing when 
infants, their breeding when children, and he hath 
took order for their careful teaching at Winchester 
when youth, liberal living at Oxford when men, and 
comfortable subsistence in their reduced age, in those 
many and good patronages he hath conferred on the 
college. And truly as these his kindred have been 
happy in him, so Wickham hath been happy in his 
kindred, many of them meriting the best prefer- 
ment, without any advantage of his relation. And 
as this Wickham was the first in that kind so pro- 
vident for his kindred, his practice hath since been 
precedential to some other colleges, as the statutes 



" space finished in such sort 
" that the first warden and 
" fellows, after a solemn pro- 
'^ cession, entered into the same 
** at three of the clock in the 
" morning, 28th March, 1393." 
Wood's History, &c. p, 176. 
The school had already existed 
twenty years, having been 
opened in Michaelmas, 1373.] 
e [" At Winchester he ap- 
** pointed the number of an 
•• hundred and five persons ; 



** viz. one warden, two fellows 
'* that are priests, three chap- 
** lains^ three clerks, fifteen 
" choristers, who are daily to 
*' perform divine offices in the 
" chapel there, twenty scholars 
'^ to apply themselves to gram- 
** mar, and a master and an 
'* usher to instruct them." 
Wood, ib.] 

^ [He also remembered every 
one of them in his will.] 



S66 



The Church History 



BOOK IT. 



A.D. 139^. of this house are generally a direction to other later 
' foundations. To take our leave of this bishop, who- 
soever considers the vast buildings and rich endow- 
ments made by this prelate, besides his expense in 
repairing the cathedral at Winchester, will conclude 
such achievements unpossible for a subject, until he 
reflect on his vast offices of preferments, being bishop 
of Winchester, rector of St. Martin's-le-Grand, hold- 
ing twelve prebends in comtnendam with it, lord privy 
seal, chancellor, and treasurer of England^ besides 
other places of meaner consequence. 



[Let me conclude this sec- 
tion with the testimony of old 
John Stow, who has added 
some other particulars of the 
generosity and munificence of 
this glorious prelate. " This 
" year (A.D. 1404) died Wil- 
liam Wickham, bishop of 
Winchester, by whose charges 
•* and travel the clergy of £ng. 
land was much increased ; 
for he builded a noble college 
* in Oxford, &c. ; he builded 
the great body of the church 
" of St. Swithin's in Winches- 
** ter, where the sermons are 
*' made^ and where his body is 
" interred — a very princely 
" work ! Neither did he for all 
** this diminish any thing of his 



<f 



« 



<( 



•( 



(( 



" ordinary household charge9, 
** and fed (as the writing en- 
" graved on his sepulchre shew- 
" eth) both rich and poor. He 
*' deceased at the age of seventy 
" years. He died rich, for 
" beside that he gave to Lis 
*' kinsfolk and to the poor, 
" he gave somewhat to every 
** church in his diocese. He 
" gave many things to the 
" king, and to his own ser- 
*' vants, and to his colleges; 
•* neither do I doubt but that 
'* he who thus lived is now 
'* with God, whom I beseech 
^* to raise up many like bishops 
** in England." * And let all 
the people say. Amen.' Chron. 

P-33»] 



of Britain 



i 






A. D. 1301. 
.6Rich:!l. 


Wardens. Benefaclaraf. 


flwiopjh. 


Leatneri irriten. 


RichnrddeTon- ' Mr. [l:hri>- 


Wm. Warhsm, 


Thoa. Harding. 




wortbe. 1 topher] 


arcbhiahop of 


Thoa. Nesle. 




[1370.] NJch. de Wyke- ' Kawlins. 




Nich. Sanders. 




ham. 1 Sir Richard 


Wm-Waynflete, 


Nich. Harps. 




'.389.] 


Thomas Cranljr. . Read, kut. 


bishop of 


field. 




.396. 


Rich. Malforde. Dr. Neivman. 


Winchester. 


Wm. Reynolds*. 




1403. 


John Boiike. i Dr. [George] 


John White, 


Thot. Hide. 




I419' 


Wm. Etuiurt Ryve. 
Nicb.OsBulhuiy.' Ward. 


bi.hop of 


John Manhall. 




U35- 


Winchester. 


Thos. Stapleton. 




■453- 


ThotChaundler. Dr. Martin. 


Thomas Bikon, 


John Fenrie. 




■475- 


Waller Hill. Rol>ert Bdl. 


hiahop of 


Rich.M^hilo'-. 




1494- 


William Porter. , Dr, Smith. 


Winchester. 


John Pits. 




1510. 


John Beade. 


Wm. Knight, 


All violent 
mainlainers of 




151'. 


JohiiYounge. 1 


bishop of 




1516- 


John London. 


Bath and 




ii*i. 


Henrj. Cole. 


M'ella. 


the popish reli. 




'55'- 


Ralph Skinner. 


Jas. Turhervil, 


gion. 




['6S3- 
t'573- 


Thomas White. , 
Mart. Colpei)per. 


bishop of 
Eieter. 


SirHen.Wot- 




f;g: 


Geor^ Rives. 1 
Arthur Lake. 


Rotert Sher- 
bourne, 


Dr. Tooker, 




[1617. 


[Robert] Pink. 1 


bishop of 


dean of Lich- 
field. 
Dr. Jas. Cook, 

Winehesler. 




[ifi47. 


[Hen.] Stringer. 


Chicheiler. 




[1649- 


[Geo.] Manbal. 1 


Arthur lake, 
bishnp of 
Bath and 




i 


Wells. 


Sir Thos, Ryres, 
(besides other 
el(«anc 
works,) for 
his Vicar-t 
Flea. 

Sir Jas. B nine. 

Sir Henry 
Martin. 

Dr. Meredith, 
dean of Wells 

Arthur Lake, 
biahopofBath 
and MMls. 

Wm, Twisse. 




i 






1 




JohnMTiite. 





X [This list of benefactors is 
very incomplete, and differs 
materially from that which is 
given by Wood.] 

^ [Wood enumerates thirty- 
five bishops down to Robert 
Lowth, in 1777.] 

1 He was brother to Dr. 
John Reynolde, the great pro- 



'' He wrote a History of 
England, [in Latin, with this 
title, Richardi Viti Basinsto- 
chii Comitis palatini Historia- 
rum Libri, 1J97. It extends 
to eleven books, of which the 
two last are very rare. As an 
historical work it is uttnly 
worthless.] 



Tkn Cumrdk IBai m m book it. 



A.D, zy^ One msT 4p^ the ^ospkiofi of flatteir, if adding 



r^bk^IL 



Dr. Harm, cbe lei^iend wvden of Wmcfaester ; Dr. 
Bkfaard Zooefa. ikhC beholden to his noMe extraction 
hi^ repate. fbonded on hi« own w^wth, and books 
berond the seas; Dr. Merrick, late judge 
of the pierDgatire: bat it i» better to leave the 
cfaaracten of their wcvth to the thankfolness of 
the next age to describe. 

32. Latelv the pc^'s osnrpation ms grown so 
great, in entrenching on the crown, that there was 
an absolute neceasitr seasonably to retrendi his 
umirpation; for albeit the kings of England were 
as absolute in their demeans, their prelacy and 
clergy as learned, their nobility as valiant and pru- 
dent, their commons as free and wealthy as any in 
Christendom, yet had not some laws of provision 
now been made, England had long since been turned 
part of 8t. Peter^s patrimony in demeans ; yea, the 
sceptre wrested out of their king's hands, her pre- 
lates made the pope's chaplains and clerks, nobility 
his servants and vassals, commons his slaves and 
villains, had not some seasonable statutes of manu- 
mission been enacted. 
TtMiiMul- 83, For now came the parliament wherein the 
tiiui of pwB- statute was enacted wnicn mauled the papal power 
tniiii r«. .^^ England. Some former laws had pared the pope's 
iiailH to the quick, but this cut off his fingers, in 
effect, so that hereafter his hands could not grasp 
and hold such vast sums of money as before. This 
is called the Statute of Praemunire ; and let not the 
reader grudge the reading thereof, which gave such 
n blow to the church of Rome that it never reco- 
vonul itself in tliis land, but daily decayed till its 
iinal doHtruction ^ : 

I [Huti the authentic collection of the Statutes, vol.ii. p. 8.] 






CENT. XIV. of Britain, 869 

" Whereas the Commons of the realm in this^;?:!^??* 

10 Rich. II. 

present parliament have shewed to our redoubted 

Lord the King, grievously complaining, that 
whereas the said our Lord the King and all his 
liege people ought of right, and of old time were 
wont to sue in the King's court, to recover their 
presentments to churches, prebends, and other 
benefices of holy church, to the which they had 
right to present, the cognizance of plea of which 
presentment belongeth only to the King's court, of 
the old right of his crown, used and approved in 
the time of all his progenitors, kings of England : 
And when judgment shall be given in the same 
court upon such a plea and presentment, the arch- 
bishops, bishops, and other spiritual persons, which 
" have institution of such benefices within their 
" jurisdictions, be bound and have made execution 
" of such judgments by the king's commandments 
'* of all the time aforesaid, without interruption, (for 
another, lay person, cannot make such execution,) 
and also be bound of right to make execution of 
many other of the king's commandments, of which 
right the crown of England hath been peaceably 
" seised, as well in the time of our said Lord the 
King that now is, as in the time of all his pro- 
genitors till this day: But now of late divers 
^* processes be inade by the bishop of Rome, and 
censures of excommunication upon certain bishops 
of England, because they have made execution of 
" such commandments, to the open disherison of the 
" said crown, and destruction of our said Lord the 
King, his law, and all his realm, if remedy be not 
provided: And also it is said, and a common 
** clamour is made, that the said bishop of Rome 

FULLER, VOL. II. fib 












6t 
6i 






S70 The Church History book it, 

ii^\i ^* ^^^ ordained and purposed to translate some pre- 

** lates of the same realm, some out of the realm, 

^ and some fix>m one bishopric into another within 
^* the same realm, without the king's assent and 
knowledge, and without the assent of the prektes 
which so shall be translated, which prdates he 
much profitable and necessary to our said Lord 
the King, and to all his realm ; by whidi trans- 
^* lations (if they should be suffered) the statutes of 
^ the realm should be defeated and made void, and 
^ his said liege sages of his council, without his 
^^ assent and against his will, carried away and got- 
^ ten out of his realm, and the substance and 
^^ treasure of the realm shall be carried away, and 
** so the realm destitute as well of council as of 
*^ substance, to the final destruction of the same 
^* realm : and so the crown of England, which hath 
** been so free at all times that it hath been in no 
" earthly subjection, but immediately subject to God 
in all things touching the regality of the same 
crown, and to none other, should be submitted to 
^* the pope, and the laws and statutes of the realm 
by him defeated and avoided at his will, in the 
perpetual destruction of the sovereignty of the 
" King our Lord, his crown, his regality, and of all 
" his realm, which God defend. 

^* And moreover the Commons aforesaid say, that 
^' the said things so attempted be clearly against the 
" king's crown and his regality, used and approved of 
" the time of all his progenitors ; Wherefore they, 
and all the liege Commons of the same realm, 
will stand with our said Lord the King, and his 
*^ said crown, and his regality, in the cases aforesaid, 
** and in all other cases attempted against him, liis 












CBNT.XJV. of Britain, 871* 

" crown, and his regality, in all points^ to live and a. d. 1395. 

1. A%i 1 T^« ^ 10 Rich. n. 

** to die. And moreover they pray the King, and 

" him require by way of justice, that he would 
^^ examine all the Lords in Parliament, as well 
spiritual as temporal, severally, and all the states 
of the Parliament, how they think of the cases 
^' aforesaid, which be so openly against the king's 
crown, and in derogation of his regality, and how 
they will stand in the same cases with our Lord 
the King, in upholding the rights of the said crown 
and regality. Whereupon the Lords temporal so 
" demanded have answered, every one by himself, 
that the cases aforesaid be clearly in derogation of 
the King's crown, and of his regality, as it is well 
known, and hath been of a long time known, and 
that they will be with the same crown and regality, 
in these cases specially, and in all other cases 
which shall be attempted against the same crown 
and regality in all points, with all their power. 
" And moreover it was demanded of the Lords spi- 
ritual thes^ being, and the procurators of others, 
being absent, their advice and will in all these 
<mses ; which Lords, that is to say, the archbishops, 
bishops, and other prelates being in the said par- 
^^ liam^DLt, severally examined, making protestations, 
that it is not their mind io deny nor affirm that 
the bishop of Rome may not excommunicate 
bishops, nor that he may make translation of pre- 
lates, aftw the law of holy church; answered 
and said : that if any executions of processes, made 
in the King's Court (sus before) be made by any, and 
^^ censures of excommunication to be made against 
^ any bishops of England, or any other of the King's 
" liege people, for that they have made execution of 

B b 2 












6C 



6i 






d7« The Church History *ook it; 

1393-*' such commandments, and that if any executions of 
-1—.' " such translations be made of any prelates of the 
same realm, which prelates b^ very profitable and 
necessary to our said Lord the King and to his 
said realm, or that the sage people of his council, 
^ without his assent and against his will, be removed 
^^ and carried out of the realm, so that the substance 
" and treasure of the realm may be consumed, that 
** the same is against the King and his crown, as it 
" is contained in the petition before named. And 
" likewise the same procurators, every one by him- 
^* self examined upon the said matters, have answered 
** and said in the name, and for their lords, as the 
^* said bishops have said and answered, and that the 
" said Lords spiritual will and ought to be with the 
^^ King in these cases, in lawfully maintaining of his 
** crown, and in all other cases touching his crown 
** and his regality, as they be bound by their alle- 
" giance. Whereupon our said Lord the King, by 
^' the assent aforesaid, and at the request of his said 
" Commons, hath ordained and established. That if 
any purchase or pursue, or cause to be purchased 
or pursued, in the court of Rome or elsewhere, any 
^* such translations, processes, and sentences of excom- 
" munications, bulls, instruments, or any other things 
" whatsoever, which touch the King, against him, 
his crown, and his regality, or his realm, as is 
aforesaid; and they which bring within the realm, 
*' or them receive, or make thereof notification, or 
any other execution whatsoever within the same 
realm or without, that they, their notaries, pro- 
curators, maintainers, abettors, fautors, and coun- 
cillors, shall be put out of the king's protection, 
" and their lands and tenements, goods and chattels. 



H6 






6t 






CENT. XIV. of Britain, 87S 

^ forfeit to our Lord the Kinff: and that they be a. d. 139^ 
" attached by their bodies, if they may be found, -. — ■ .'. 1 
^ and brought before the king and his council, there 
•* to answer to the cases aforesaid, or that process 
" be made against them, by prcemunire fadaSy in 
manner as it is ordained in other statutes of pro- 
visors, and other which do sue in any other court 
in derogation of the regality of our Lord the King." 

34. Something of the occasion, name, and use of 

this statute. The first is notoriously known, from The occa. 
the papal encroachments on the crown. No bishop- JJ^^^" 
ric, abbathy, dignity, or rectory of value in England 
was likely to fell, but a successor in reversion was 
by the pope's provisions foreappointed for the same. 
To make sure work, rather than they would adven- 
ture to take the place at the first rebound, they 
would catch it before it light on the ground. This 
was imputed to the pope's abundance, yea, super- 
fluity of care, ne detur vacuum in the church ; and 
rather than a widow benefice should mourn itself to 
death, a second husband had his license for mar- 
riage before the former was deceased. But great 
parishes, where small the profit and numerous the 
people, and where indeed greatest care ought to be 
had of their souls, were passed by in the pope's 
bulls ; his holiness making no provisions for those 
livings, which livings had no provisious for his 
holiness. 

35. Some will have it called prcemunire^ from why called 
fencing or fortifying the regal power from foreign ^^^'*' 
assaults, as indeed this was one of the best bulwarks 

and sconces of sovereignty ; others that prcemunire 
signifieth the crown fortified before the making of 
this statute, as fixing no new force therein, but only 

Bb3 



874 The Church History book iv. 

A.D. i393.dechuriiig a precedent, and foTegoing just right and 

i U due thereof. Others conceive the word pnemonerei 

turned hy corruption of horbarous transcribers, inter- 
preterS) and pronouncers into pmmtmtre ; others 
allege the figure of the eflfi^ct for the cause, and 
the common proverb, pnemonitus pr^Bmunitns. 
Most sure it is that pr^tmunire facias are operative 
words, in the form of the writ grounded on the 
statute, which may give denomination to the whole. 
iVi|w*t<»- 86. It may seem strange such a statute could 
odkmtto pass in parliament, where almost sixty spiritual 
^^^' barons (bishops and abbots) voted according to papal 
interest; except any will say, that such who for- 
merly had much of a pope in their bellies had now 
more of patriots in their breast, being weary of 
Rome's exactions. Indeed no man in place of power 
or profit loves to behold himself buried alive, by 
seeing his successor assigned unto him, which caused 
all clergymen to hate such superinductions, and many 
friends to the pope were foes to his proceedings 
therein. 
TWpoiw^ 37. This law angereil all the veins in the heart 
i^Mmttiikof his holiness; the statute of mortmain put him 
into a sweat, but this into the fit of a fever. The 
former concerned him only mediately, in the abbeys 
his darlings; this touched him in his person; and 
how choleric he ii'as will appear by the following 
letter, here inserted (though written some fifty years 
after) to make the story entire "". 

*' Martinus Episcopus, servus servorum Dei, dilecto 

>» The origiiial of this hill ma^ had thb his copy, from 
was in the study of sir Nicbo- whidi that of sir Robert Cot- 
las Bacon, lord chanwDor, ton*s is deriTed. 
whence the ardibishop of Ar- 












CBNT. XIV. of Britain. 876 

^' filio nobili viro Johanni, duci Bedford, salutem et a. 0.1593. 

^ apo8tolicam benedictionem. Quamvis duduin in 

f^ regno Anglise, jurisdictio Romanae Ecclesiae, et 
** libertas eoclesiastica fuerit oppressa, vigore illius 
" eopecrahilis statuti, quod omni divinae et humann 
^^ ration! contrarium est : Tamen adhuc non fuit ad 
tantam violentiam prolapsum, ut in sedis aposto- 
licae nuncios et legatos manus temere mitterentur, 
sicut novissime factum est in persona dilecti filii 
*^ Johannis de Oisis palatii apostolic! causarum 
auditoris, et in prse&to regno nuntii, et coUectoris 
nostril quern audivimus ex hac sola causa, quod 
literas apostolicas nostro nomine prsesentabat, 
•* fuisse per aliquos de ipso regno carceribus man- 
cipatum. Qude injuria nobis et apostolicae sedi 
illata, animum nostrum affecit admiratione, turba- 
tione, et molestia singular! : Miramur enira, stu- 
" pescimus et dolemus, quod tam fcedum et turpe 
^'fadntts in illo regno commissum sit, contra sedem 
B. Petri, et nuntios ejus, praesertim cum literse 
illae nostrae, nil aliud quam salutem animarum, 
" honorem regni, et per omnia patemas et sanctas 
^^ admonitiones continerent. Fuit enim semper etiam 
^^ apud gentiles, qui nuUam tenebant verae fide! 
" rationem inviolabile nomen nuntii ; atque legati 
" etiams! ab hostibus mitterentur semper salvi, et 
hodie apud Saracenos et Turcos, a quibusdam tute 
destinantur legationes et literse ; etiams! illis ad 
quos deferuntur molestss sint et injuriosae. Et 
" nuncius noster, vir humanus et moderatus, et con- 
" tinua conversatione notissimus in regno Angliac, 
quod devotione fide!, et cultu divino se jactat 
omnes alias Christianas rationes superare turpiter 
captus est, nihil impium, nee hostile deferens, sed 

B b 4 



M 
« 









1 



876 The Church History book iv. 

A.D.1393." literas salutares et justas. Sed revereantur ali- 

l !_' " quando illi qui sic contumaciter et superbe Eccle- 

** siam Dei contemnent, et sedis apostolicse autho- 
" ritatem, ne super ipsos eveniat justa punitio ex 
" Christi judicio, qui earn instituit, et fundavit. 
" Caveant ne tot cumulatis offensis Deum irritent, 
" ad ultionem et tarditatem supplicii gravitate com- 
" pensent. Non videbatur eis satis offendisse Deum 
** statuta condendo contra vicarium ejus, contra 
*' Ecclesiam et Ecclesiae caput, nisi pertinaciter per- 
*' severantes in malo proposito, in nuntium aposto- 
" licum violentas manus injicerent ? Quod non 
** dubitamiis tuse Excellentiae, quae Ecclesiae et regni 
** honorem diligit, displicere, et certi sumus quod si 
" fuisses in Anglia, pro tua naturali prudentia, et pro 
" fide et devotione quam geres erga nos et Eccle- 
siam Dei, illos incurrere in hunc fiirorem nullatenuis 
permisisses. Verum cum non solum ipsis qui hoc 
" fecerunt, sed toti regno magna accederit ignominia, 
" et dietim si perseverabit in errore, accessura sit 
" major : generositatem tuam, in qua valde confide- 
" mus, exhortamur et affectuose rogamus, ut circa 
" hsec provideas, prout sapientiae tuse videbitur, 
" honori nostro et Ecclesiae, ac saluti regni conve- 
" nire. Datum Romae apud Sanctos Apostolos, VI. 
" Kal. Junii Pontificatus nostri, anno 12™®." 

Give winners leave to laugh, and losers to speak, 
or else both will take leave to themselves ; the less 
the pope could bite, the more he roared, and as it 
appears by his language, he was highly offended 
thereat. This penal statute as a rod was for many 
years laid upon the desk, or rather locked up in the 
cupboard. No great visible use being made thereof, 
until the reign of king Hen. VIII. whereof hereafter. 






CEST. XIV. of Britain. 877 

36. Since the Reformation, the professors of the a.d. 1393- 

4k>iiimon law have taken much advantage out of this ■' 

statute, threatening therewith such as are active in ed than 
the ecclesiastical jurisdictions, as if their dealings '^^ 
tended to be the disherison of the crown. A 
weapon wherewith they have rather flourished than 
struck, it being suspicious, that that appearing-sword 
is but all hilt, whose blade was never dravni out, 
as this charge hath never been driven home against 
them ; but herein let us hearken to the learned 
judgment of sir Thomas Smith, secretary of state, 
who well knew the interest of his sovereign therein. 

89- " Because this court, which is called cwna sir Thomas 
*' Christianitatis^ is yet taken as appeareth for an judgment 
** extern and foreign court, and differeth from the ^^^^' 
" policy and manner of government of the realm, 
" and is another court (as appeareth by the act and 
" writ of prcemunire) than curia regis aut regince ; 
** yet at this present, this court as well as others 
" hath her force, power, authority, rule, and jurisdic- 
tion from the royal majesty, and the crown of 
England, and from no other foreign potentate or 
power under God ; which being granted (as indeed 
** it is true) it may now appear by some reason, 
" that the first statute of praemunires whereof I have 
spoken, hath now no place in England, seeing 
there is no pleading alibi quam in curia regis ac 
regin€B^'^ All I will add of this statute is this ; 
that it hath had the hard hap not to be honoured 
with so many readings therein, as other statutes. 
Perhaps because not bringing in TrpoarraXipiTay in 
proportion to the pains which must be laid out 

" Commonwealth of Eng. iii. 11. [p. 269. ed. 1640.] 



6< 






S78 The ilhwrck Huiary book it. 

AD. 1 395. thereon; and therefore I would ioTite scMiie iii£:e- 

19 Rich. II. . ^ 

Dums m our commcm law (and with sndi no dodbt 

it aboundeth) to bestow their learned endeayours 
thereon, to their own honour, and adyancement of 
the truth in so noble a subject. 
Ti^wiaDn 40^ Many poor souls at this time were by fear 
abjoratioii. or flattoiy moyed to algure the truth, and promise 
future conformity to the church of Rome. In proof 
whereof let not the reader think much to peruse the 
following instruments; first, for the authenticness 
thereof, being truly copied out of the originals of 
the tower ; secondly, because it contains some extra- 
ordinary formalities of abjuration. Lastly, because 
the four persons mentioned therein haye escaped 
Mr. Foxe his obseryation, seeing no drag-net can be 
so carefully cast as to catch all things which come 
under it. 

Memarand. quod prima die Septembrisy anno regni 
regis Richardi Secundi post conquestum decinuh 
nono WtUielmus DyneU Nicholaus TaiUour^ Nicho- 
laus Poncher^ et WtUielmus Steynour de Notyng^ 
ham^ in canceUaria ipsius regis personaliter con- 
stittUi sacramentum divisim prestiterunt sub eo qui 
sequitur tenore^. 

I WiLLYAM Dynet, bofor yhow worschipefiill &der 
and lorde archebisshope of Yhorke, and yhour cler- 
gie with my free wyll and fiill ayysede swere to 
Gode and to all his Seyntes upon this holy Gospells 

o Ex Rotulo Clausar. de original but the membruie has 

anno regni r^s decimo nono been so much stained with gall 

Richardi secundi membrana 18. as to be in many parts com- 

[m. dorao. Collated with the pletely illegible.] 



ei^NT. XVI. cf Britain. 879 

yat fro this day forth warde I shall worshipe 3rHiage8A.D.i395. 
withe preying and offeryng wn to hem in the wor- '^^^^^'^^' 
scheme of the seintes y* yey be made after. And 
also I shal never-mor despyse pygremage ne states 
of holy Chyrche, in no degree. And also I shalle 
be buxum to ye lawes of holy chirche and to yhowe 
as myn archebysshope and to myn oyer ordinares 
and curates and kepe yo lawes upon my power and 
meynten hem. And also I shalle never more meyn- 
ten, ne techen, ne defenden errours, conclusions, 
ne techynges of ye LoUardes, ne swyche conclusions 
and techynges that men clepyth LoUardes doctr3m, 
ne I shalle her bokes, ne swyche bokes ne hem 
or any suspect or diffamede of Lolardery resceyve, 
or company withall wyttyngly or defende in yo 
matters, and yf I knowe ony swiche, I shall, wyth 
all the haste that y may, do yhowe or els your ner 
officers to wyten, and of her bokes. And allso 
I shall excite and stirre all you to goode doctrfm 
yat I have hinderd wythe myn doctryn up my 
power, and also I shall stonde to your declaracion 
wych es heresy or errour and do therafter. And 
also what penance yhe woUe for yat I have don for 
meyntenyng of this false doctryn in mynd mee 
and I shall fulfill it, and I submit me yer to up my 
power, and also I shall make no othir glose of this 
my oth bot as ye wordes stonde, and if it be so 
that I com agayn or do agayn this oath or ony 
party thereof I yhelde me here cowpable as an 
heretyke and to be punyshed be ye lawe as an 
heretyke, and to forfeit all my godes to the kynges 
will withowten any othir processe of lawe, and yerto 
I require ye notarie to make of all this, ye whych 
is my will, an instrument agayns me. 



880 The Church History book 1¥. 

A.D. i$9S'Et ex habundanti idem WiU. Dynet eodem die voluU 

' et recognovit quod omnia bona et cataUa sua mo- 

bilia nobis sint forisfoAnta in casu quo ipse jura- 

mentum prcedictum seu aliqua in eodem juramenlo 

contenta de cetero contravenerit vUo modo. 



Take It 41. We have here exemphfied this abiuration lust 

foultsand _. ^ . ..i.i_iii«i, 

aiL according to the ongmals, with all the mults and 

pseudography thereof. For I remember in my time, 
an under-clerk at court, threatened to be called 
before the green-cloth for an innovation from for- 
mer bills, though only writing Sinapi with an /S, 
contrary to the common custom of the clerks of the 
kitchen, formerly writing of it with a (7, so wedded 
are some men to old orders, and so dangerous in 
their judgment is the least deviation from them. 
Someob- 42. The archbishop of York mentioned therein 
on this ab- was Thomas Arundel, then chancellor of England, and 
juration, j^^ ^^^ probability this instrument was dated at York. 
For I find that at this very time Thomas Arundel, to. 
humble the Londoners (then reputed disaffected to 
the king) removed the terms and courts to York, 
where they continued for some short time, and then 
returned to their ancient course p. Whereas he is 
enjoined point-blank to worship images, it seemetb 
that the modem nice distinction of worshipping of 
saints in images, was not yet in fashion. It ap- 
peareth herein that relapse after abjuration was not 
as yet (as afterwards) punishable with death, but 
only with forfeiture of goods to the crown. 
The death 43. This year a godly, learned, and aged servant 
Trevysa. of God ended his days, viz. John de Trevysa, a gen- 

P Godwin De Praesul. Angl. [p. 688.] 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



881 



tleman of an ancient family^ (bearing gtdes^ a garb, a.d. 139J. 
^r) bom at Crocadon in Cornwall, a secular priest, ^ ' ' ' 
and vicar of Berkeley ; a painful and fiiithful trans- 
lator of many and great books into English, as Poli-.. 
cronicon, written by Ranulphus of Chester, Bartho* 
lomseus De rerum proprtetatHms^ &c. But his master- 
piece was the translating of the Old and New Tes- 
tam^it, justifying his act herein by the example of 
Bede, who turned the Gospel of St, John in English. 

44. I know not which more to admire, his ability who traiw- 
that he could, his courage that he durst, or his in- Bible into 
dustry that he did perform so difficult and dangerous ^"«f***^- 

a task, having no other commission than the com- 
mand of his patron, Thomas lord Berkeley ^ Which 
lord (as the said Trevysa observeth ») had the Apo- 
calypse in Latin and French (then generally under- 
stood by the better sort as well as English) written 
on the roof and walls of his chapel at Berkeley ; and 
which not long since, (viz. anno 16^2.) so remained, 
as not much defaced. Whereby we may observe, 
that midnight being past, some early risers even 
lihen began to strike fire and enlighten themselves 
from the scriptures. 

45. It may seem a miracle that the bishops being Yet escaped 
*thus busy in persecuting God's servants, and Trevysa 



persecu- 
tion. 



q Carew's Survey of Corn- 
wall, p. 114. ed. 1602. 

' Balseus de Script. Angl. 
vii. §. 18. 

* Polycronycon, ii. ed. 1482. 
or 1527, translated by Tre- 
vysa. [At the end of Trevysa's 
translation, which was con- 
tinued by Caxton, the follow- 
ing lines are subjoined : ** God 
" be tlianked of all his deeds -, 
'* this translation is ended on 



** a Thursday the eighteenth 
** day of April, the year of 
" our Lord a thousand three 
•' hundred and fifty-seven ; the 
" xxxi year of king Edward 
'* the third after the conquest 
** of England, the- year of my 
" lords age, sir Thomas lord 
" of Berkley, that made me 
*' make this translation, five 
" and thirty." f. 389—316.] 



88S The Church History book iv. 

A. D. 1395.80 obnoxious to their fiiry for this translation, that 

!? Ihe lived and died without any molestation. Yet 

was he a known enemy to monkery, witness that 
(among many other) of his speeches, that he had 
read how '* Christ had sent apostles and priests into 
" the world, but never any monks or begging friars^" 
But whether it was out of reverence to his own aged 
gravity, or respect to his patron's greatness, he died 
full of honour, quiet, and age, little less than ninety 
years old. For, 

1. He ended his translation of Polycronicon (as 
appeareth by the conclusion thereof) the 29th of 
Edward the Third, when he cannot be presumed leas 
than 30 years of age. 

2. He added to the end thereof, fifty (some say 
more) years of his own historical observations'^. 

Thus as he gave a garb or wheat-sheaf for his 

arms ; so, to use the prophet's expression, the Lord 

gathered him as a sheaf into theflo&r^ even fiill ripe 

and ready for the same. 

As did his 46. We may couple with him his contemporary, 

X^^Q^' GeofBry Chaucer, bom (some say) in Berkshire, others 

fry chau- j^ Oxfordshire, most and truest in London y. If the 

Grecian Homer had seven, let our English have 

three places contest for his nativity. Our Homer 

(I say) only herein he differed ; 

M(Bonides nuUas ipse reliqmt opes : 
Homer himself did leave no pelf. 

t Bale, ib. on his tomb- stone : and Tyr* 

'I Pitzeus in vita, p. 567. whitt infers from a passage in 

X Micah iv. 12. his poems that he was born at 

y [He was born in the year London. Pref. to Chaucer's 

1328, and died Oct. 25, 1400, Works, p. xvii. Oxf. 1798.] 

according to some inscription 



oer. 



OEKT. XIV, ofBritaiu. 888 

whereas our Chaucer left behind him a rich and -^-J:; 399- 

23R1ch.11. 

worshipful estate, 

47. His father was a vintner in London ; and I ^" parent- 

age and 

have heard his arms quarelled at, being argent and arms. 
gtdes strangely contrived, and hard to be blazoned. 
Some more wits have made it the dashing of white 
and red wine (the parents of our ordinary claret) 
as nicking his father's profession. But were Chaucer 
alive, he would justify his own arms in the fece of 
all his opposers, being not so devoted to the muses, 
but he was also a son of Mars. He was the prince 
of English poets ; married the daughter of Pain Roec, 
king of armes in France, and sister to the wife of 
John of Gaunt, king of Castile. 

48. He was a great refiner and illuminer of our He refined 
English tongue, (and if he left it so bad, how much^gu^ 
worse did he find it?) witness Leland thus praising 
him*: 

Pradicat Aligerum merito Florentia Dantem^ 

Italia et numeros tota Petrarche tuos. 
Anglla Chaucei'um veneratur nostra poetaniy 

Cut veneres debet patria Ihigua stuis. 

Of Alger Dante, Florence doth justly boast. 
Of Petrarch brags all the Italian coast. 
England doth poet Chaucer reverence, 
To whom our language owes its eloquence. 

Indeed Verstegan, a learned antiquary*, condemns 
him for spoiling the purity of the English tongue, 
by the mixture of so many French and Latin words. 
But he who mingles wine with water, though he 

* QDe Script, in Vita, p. * In his Restitution of de- 
422.] cayed Intelligence, p. 203. 



The Church History book i?. 

A. D. 1399. destroys the nature of water, improves the qnality 

^^'^^^ thereof*^. 

49. I find this Chaucer fined in the temple two 

-A 8™^ shillinins for strikinsr a Franciscan friar in Fleet- 
enemy to ^ ° 

fnuu street, and it seems his hands ever after itched to 
be revenged, and have his pennyworths out of them, 
so tickling religious orders with his tales, and yet so 
pinching them with his truths, that friars in reading 
his books know not how to dispose their &ces be- 
twixt erring and laughing. He lies buried in the 
south isle of St. Peter's, Westminster, and since hatb 
got the company of Spencer and Drayton (a pair- 
royal of poets) enough almost to make passengers 
feet to move metrically, who go over the place where 
so much poetical dust is interred. 
AsWt 50. Since the abjuration last exemplified, we 

dunivii. meet in this king^s reign no more persecution from 
the Wshop^ We impute this not to their pity, but 
other employment, now busy in making their appli- 
cations to the new king on the change of goyem- 
ment« king Richard being now deposed. 
TWdMK 51. He was one of a goodly person, of a nature 
SmTrkIi- neither gixid nor bad, but according to his company, 
y*^ which commonlv were of the more vicious. His 
infancy was educated under several lord protectors 
successively, under whom lus intellectuals thrived, 
as habos battle with many nurses, commonly the 
worse for the change. At last he grew up to full 
age and empty mind, judicious only in pleasure, 
giving himself over to all licentiousness. 
<\«»t«w4 52» As king Richani was too weak to govemS 

llJI^ ij;^ >» r Ag^a>t tliis cisM^ be * [His chief weakness was 
Kmvtlk Im$ Kxti abiT defonded br tbe isperiousoess of the dake 
TNtwHiW. in his Ksstv 4\:; of L*ncaBrer.1 



CBUT. XIV. of Britain. 385 

SO Henry duke of Lancaster, his cousin-german ^^^SJ^??* 

too wilful to be governed. Taking advantage there- ^^ •' 

fore of the king's absence in Ireland, he combined 
with other of the discontented nobility, and draws 
up articles against him, some true, some false, some 
both; as wherein truth brought the matter, and 
malice made the measure. Many misdemeanours 
(mo misfortunes) are laid to his charge. Murdering 
the nobility, advancing of worthless minions, sale of 
justice, oppression of all people with unconscionable 
taxations. For such princes as carry a fork in one 
hand must bear a rake in the other; and must 
covetously scrape to maintain what they causelessly 
scatter. 

53. Looseness brings men into straits at last, Andre- 
as king Richard may be an instance thereof. Re-^m. 
turning into England, he is reduced to this doleful 
dilemma ; either voluntarily, by resigning, to depose 
himself; or violently, by detrusion, to be deposed by 
others. His misery and his enemies* ambition admit 

of no expedient. Yea, in all this act his little judg- 
ment stood only a looker-on, whilst his fear did what 
was to be done, directed by the force of others. In 
hopes of life he solemnly resigneth the crown, but all 
in vain. For cruel thieves seldom rob but they also 
kill ; and king Henry his successor could not meet 
with a soft pillow, so long as the other wore a warm 
head. Whereupon, not long after, king Richard was 
barbarously murdered at Pomfret castle. But of 
these transactions the reader may satisfy himself 
at large out of our civil historians. 

54. Only we will add that the clergy were the The base- 
first that led this dance of disloyalty. Thomas disloyal 
Arundel, now archbishop of Canterbury, in the room ^ ^^^' 

FULLER, VOL. II. C C 



} 



386 The Church History book iy. 

A.D. i399.of William Courtenay deceased, made a sermon on 

—^Samuel's words, vir dominabitur poptdo^. He shewed 

himself a satirist in the former, a parasite in the 
later part of his sermon, a traitor in both. He 
aggravated the childish weakness of king Richard, 
and his inability to govern; magnifying the parts 
and perfections of Henry duke of Lancaster. But 
by the archbishop's leave, grant Richard either de- 
servedly deposed, or naturally dead vdthout issue, 
the right to the crown lay not in this Henry, but in 
Roger Mortimer, earl of March, descended by his 
mother Philippa from Lionel, duke of Clarence, 
elder son to Edward the third. This the archbishop 
did willingly conceal. Thus in all state alterations, 
be they never so bad, the pulpit vrill be of the same 
wood with the council-board. And thus ambitious 
clergymen abuse the silver trumpets of the sanc- 
tuary ; who, reversing them, and putting the wrong 
end into their mouths, make what was appointed to 
sound religion to signify rebellion®. 
The coura- 55. But wMlst all othcr churches in England 
S^^" rung congratulatory peals to king Henry his hap- 
^J^^^P piness, one jarring bell almost marred the melody of 
all the rest, even Thomas Merkes, bishop of Carlisle. 
For when the lords in parliament, not content to 
depose king Richard, were devising more mischief 
against him, up steps the aforesaid bishop, formerly 
chaplain to the king, and expresseth himself as fol- 
loweth : 

"There is no man present worthy to pass his 

^ [i Sam. ix. 17. See an his renunciation of the crown 

abstract of this sermon in are printed in Twysden x. 

Knighton, p. 2758.] Script, p. 2743.] 

* [The records pertaining to 



CENT. XIV. of Britain, 887 

** sentence on so ffreat a kinff, as to whom they have a. d. 1399. 

^ ^ ^ 23 Rich. 11. 









obeyed as their lawful prince foil two and twenty 
years. This is the part of traitors, cut-throats, and 
" thieves. None is so wicked, none so vile, who, 
** though he be charged with a manifest crime, we 
" should think to condemn before we heard him. 
•* And you, do ye account it equal to pass sentence 
" on a king anointed and crowned, giving him no 
" leave to defend himself? How unjust is this ! But 
** let us consider the matter itself. I say, nay openly 
affirm, that Henry duke of Lancaster (whom you 
are pleased to call your king) hath most unjustly 
spoiled Richard, as well his sovereign as ours, of 
his kingdom^.'* 
More would he have spoken, when the lord mar- 
shal enjoined him silence, for speaking too much 
truth in so dangerous a time. Since, it seems some 
historians have made up what more he would have 
said, spinning these his heads into a very large ora- 
tion, though tedious to none, save those of the Lan- 
castrian faction. 

56. Here, if ever, did the proverb take effect, innocency 
" Truth may be blamed, but cannot be shamed," formour. 
although the rest of the bishops, being guilty them- 
selves, condemned him, as discovering more convent- 
devotion (who originally was a monk of West- 
minster) than court-discretion, in dissenting from 

his brethren ; yet generally he was beheld as loy- 
altt/*s confessor^ speaking what became his calling 
in discharge of his conscience. Yea, for the present, 
such the reverence to his integrity, no punishment 
was imposed upon him. 

57. Merkes was conceived in the judgment of Activity 

will be 
' Bishop Godwin^ De Praesul. Angl. [p. 766.] tampering. 

cc 2 



888 The Church History of Britain. book iv. 

A. D. 1400. most moderate men, abundantly to have satisfied 

'- — •* his conscience with his speech in parliament. But 

how hard is it to stop an active soul in its full 
speed ? He thought himself bound not only to speak 
but do, yea, and suffer too (if called thereunto) for 
his sovereign. This moved him to engage with 
Henry Hotspur and other discontented lords, against 
king Henry, on whose defeat this bishop was taken 
prisoner, and judicially arraigned for high treason. 
A biihop 58. Thig is one of the clearest distinguishing cha- 
byhi8peerg.racters betwixt the temporal and spiritual lords, 
that the former are to be tried per pares , by their 
peers, being barons of the realm ; the latter are by 
law and custom allowed a trial only by a jury of able 
and substantial persons^. Such men found bishop 
Merkes guilty of treason, for which he was con- 
demned and sent prisoner to St. Alban's. 

A ieason- 5^^ rjij^^ j^j^g^ would ffladlv havo had a fair rid- 
able expe- o o J 

diont. dance of this bishop, whom he could not with credit 
keep here, nor send hence. As to deprive him of 
life it was dangerous in those days, when some 
sacredness was believed inherent in episcopal per- 
sons. Here his holiness helped the king with an 
handsome expedient to salve all matters, by re- 
moving Merkes to be bishop of Samos in Grecia^ 
I find three Grecian islands of the same name, and 
a critic^ complaineth they are often confounded. 
The best is, it is not much material of which of 
them Merkes was made bishop, having only a title 
(to starve in state) without a penny profit thereby. 
But before his translation was completed, he was 
translated into another world. 

&r Mr. Selden, in a late small ^ Godwin, ib. 
treatise, the Priviledges of the ^ Carolus Steplianus in die- 
Baronage^ [p. 149. ed. 1642.] tionario poeticQ. - 



SECT. 11. 



TO 



SIR GERARD NAPIER, 

OF DORSETSHIRE, BART.a 

/ have read thoit a stoitute was made to retrench the nwmher of 
great mem* keeping their retainers^ in the reign of king 
Henry VII, ; and that politicly done in those mutinom 
times^ to prevent commotions, lest some popular person should 
raise a little army, wnder the covert of his great attendance. 



^ [Arms: argent^ a saltier 
engrailed sable, between four 
roses gules. Sir Gerard Na- 
pier, of Middlemarsh Hall, in 
the county of Dorset, was cre- 
ated a baronet by king Charles I . , 
June 25, 1 64 1. He married 
Margaret, daughter and co-heir 
of John CoUes, of Barton^ in 
the county of Somerset, esq., 
by whom he had a son and 
heir, Nathaniel, who succeeded 
him in the baronetcy. Sir 
Gerard died 14th May, 1673. 
He was (says Mr. Hutchins^ in 
his History of Dorsetshire, iv. 
p. 286^ in his account of this 
family) a member for Ware- 
ham^ 3 Charles I., and for Mel- 
comb Regis, 16 Charles I. In 
his loyalty to the king's service 



he sacrificed 10^621/.; his es- 
tates in the county of Kent 
were sequestered^ and he was 
disabled from representing Mel- 
comb, and declared a delin. 
quent. When the king was in 
exile, sir Gerard sent him ^yq 
hundred broad pieces by sir 
Gilbert Talbot, who had the 
meanness and dishonesty to 
detain them ; for which sir 
Gerard, after the Restoration, 
arrested him, but on the king's 
mediation forgave him. Not- 
withstanding his losses, he 
greatly augmented his paternal 
estate, and had the honour of 
entertaining the king and queen 
at More Critchell when the 
court removed to Sah'sbury in 
the plague of 1665.] 

c c 3 



S90 TV CftMrek ISUory sook it. 

A taw improved to riffimr, Atvi^ eertaiMfy, at oS oCkr/waof 
itatitU$, inUmied bmt to torror; imsommtk iAat tlte eari tf 
Oxford, more meriting of tiag Hatry VII. doa amg elier 
mhjeet, vat evem detieered to tie tingle attorney^, and, dk 
report laith, fined fiflem tAoumtitd marka for exeeedtng tie 
proportum leffoUy aUoited. 

I am/eu mm lire in at da»fferoiu daj/t, and ajbrdimff at great 
jealoutUt at tkoee ; bmt I iave eauie to &e ri^ plod {at 
detply eoneented lAermn) tiat liamgi a ttiOiite iati firinA- 
den nuxny to d^end on one, none iati prvU&tted one to 
d^end on many patront ; hnt any antior of a boot m^ 
muUiply tiem aani ntanier, at driving on no inrt/itl detiff*, 
but only the protection of kit own endeavonrt. 

On thii account I tender thete my lahonrt unto yon, htowinff 
the very name of Napier aec^taile to all tdalart, ever 
tince the learned laird of Marehittouma <= {no ttranger to 
yonr blood, at I am it^ormed) by kit lofforit&mt contracted 
the paint, and to by contequence prolonffed the time and l^e, 
ofaU vm^^ayed in wmMration. 

r] ING Hemy, being consciona that he 

had got and did keep the erown bj a 

bad title, counted it his wisest way to 

comply with the clergy, whose present 

power was not only useful, but need- 

"■fiil for him. To gain their favour, he lately enacted 

jmpe'i «n. bloody laws for the extirpation of poor Christians, 

under the &lse notion of heretics, condemning them 

to be burnt ^, a torment unheard of in such cases , 

till that time ; and yet it appeareth that the pope, 

ID this age, was not possessed of so full power in 

England, whatsoever the catholics pretend, but that 

** Lord Verulam, in hia Life, in defence of the loyal cause, 

p. 2 11. See Lloyd's Mem. p. 640.] 

c [Who WHS hioiBelf taken ^ Statute 2 of Hen. IV. c. 

"■uoner, and \at aon fell in 15. 
■ttle St Aldenie, May 4, 1645, 




■fl»inMth« 



CENT. XIV. of Britain. 891 

this politic prince kept the reins> though loose, in a. d. 1400. 
his own hand. For in this time it was resolved that ! — *^^ — .' 
the pope's collector, though he had the pope's bull 
for that purpose, had no jurisdiction within this 
realm, and that the archbishops and bishops of 
England were the spiritual judges in the king's 
behalf e; as it was also enacted, if any person of 
religion obtained of the bishop of Rome to be 
exempt from obedience, regular or ordinary, he 
was in a praemunire ^. Yea, this very statute, which 
gave power to a bishop in his diocese to condemn 
an heretic, plainly proveth that the king, by consent 
of parliament, directed the proceedings of the Eccle- 
siastical Court in cases of heresy ; so|that the pope, 
even in matters of spiritual cognizance, had no 
power over the lives of English subjects. ^^'"7 

2,' The first on whom this cruel law was han-WiUiam 
selled was William Sautre fif, formerly parish priest the proto- 
of St. Margaret, in the town of Lynne, but since of En^Sh^ 
St. Osith, in the city of London*'. This was heP^"^^**- 
whose faith fought the first duel with fire itself, and 
overcame it. Abel was the first martyr of men, 
St. Stephen the first of Christian men ; St. Alban 
the first of British Christians, and this Sautre the 
first of English Protestants, as by prolepsis I may 
term them, j Scriveners use with gaudy flourishes 
to deck and garnish the initial characters of copies, 
which superfluous pains may be spared by us in 
adorning this leading letter in the pattern of 
patience, seeing it is conspicuous enough in itself, 
dyed red with its own blood. Some charge this 

c 2 Hen. IV. c. 4. h [Por an account of the 

^ 2 Hen. IV. c. 3 . proceedings against Sautre, see 

g [Otherwise called Chatris.] Foxe's Martyrology, I. p. 67 1 .] 

cc 4 



SgS The Church History book iv. 

A.D. Hoo.Sautre with fear and fickleness, because formerly 
— — — ^he had abjured those articles (for which afterwards 
he died) before the bishop of Norwich ; but let 
those who severely censure him for once denying 
the truth, and do know who it was that denied 
his Master thrice, take heed they do not as bad a 
deed more than four times themselves. May Sautre's 
final constancy be as surely practised by men as his 
former cowardliness no doubt is pardoned by God ! 
Eight errors were laid to his charge, in order as 
foUoweth i : 

i. Imprimis^ He saith that he will not worship 
the cross on which Christ suffered, but only Christ 
that suffered upon the cross. 

ii. Item^ That he would sooner worship a tem- 
poral king than the foresaid wooden cross. 

iii. Iteniy That he would rather worship the bodies 
of the saints than the very cross of Christ, on which 
he hung, if it were before him. 

iv. Item^ That he would rather worship a man 
truly contrite than the cross of Christ. 

V. Item^ That he is bound rather to worship a 
man that is predestinate than an angel of God. 

vi. Item^ That if any man would visit the monu- 
ments of Peter and Paul, or go on pilgrimage to 
the tomb of St. Thomas, or else any whither else, 
for the obtaining of any temporal benefit, he is not 
bound to keep his vow, but he may distribute the 
expenses of his vow upon the alms of the poor. 

vii. Iteniy That every priest and deacon is more 
bound to preach the word of God than to say the 
canonical hours. 

> [Foxe, lb. p. 671.] 



CENT. XIV. of Britain, 893 

viii. IterHf That after the pronouncing of the a. d. 1400. 
saeramental words of the body of Christ the bread — — — - 
remaineth of the same nature that it was before, 
neither doth it cease to be bread. 

3. These were the opinions wherewith Sautre is Thomas 

• . 1 • i_ Arundel, 

charged in their own registers, which, if read with archbishop 
that favour which not charity but justice allows of bury, so- 
course to human frailty, will be found not so heinous Jf^n!^^" 
as to deserve fire and fagot, seeing his expressions ^*J^ ^^^ 
are rather indiscreet than his positions damnable, ^cted. 
But Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, 
before whom Sautre was convented, in the convo- 
cation at St. Paul's, in London, principally pinched 
him with the last, about transubstantiation in the 
sacrament. Thus their cruelty made God's table a 
snare to his servants ; when their other nets broke, 
this held ; what they pretended a sacrifice for the 
living and dead proved, indeed, the cause of the 
sacrificing of many innocents ; and cavils about the 
corporal presence was the most compendious way to 
dispatch them: for the denial whereof the afore- 
said archbishop solemnly pronounced Sautre an 
heretic convicted. ^^ 

4. Here happened a passage in Sautre which Isautre's 
must not omit, which either I do not understand or denying of 
cannot approve in him; for, being demanded whe-^^^^^- 
ther or no he had formerly abjured these opinions, 

he denied the same, whereas his formal abjuration 
of them, the last year, before the bishop of Norwich, 
was produced in presence : an action utterly incon- 
sistent with Christian sincerity, to deny his own 
deed, except any will say that he was not bound to 
accuse himself, and to confess in that court what he 
had done elsewhere, to his own prejudice. Thus 



394 The Church History book iv. 

A.D. 1400. offenders, which formerly have confessed their fact 

« Hen* IV, ,-, , ,, t n -x- i» 

m their pnvate examinations before a justice of 

peace, yet plead not guilty when they are brought 
before the assizes, accounting themselves innocent 
in that court, till, by the verdict of the jury, they 
are proved otherwise. However I am rather in- 
clined to suspect my ignorance than condemn his 
innocence, conceiving there is more on his side than 
appeareth in his behalf. 
Ssotre, iaj'^^ 5. The reader, I presume, will pardon our large- 
■entenoe, is uoss (which WO will recompense with brevity in the 
becK^j^ J*6st) in relating the proceedings against this first 
^^^ martyr, who being, as I may say, the eldest and the 
heir in our history, may justly challenge a double 
portion thereof. Yea, the archbishop, who in his 
condemnation did not follow, but make a precedent 
therein, was very punctual and ceremonious in his 
proceedings, that he might set the fairer copy for 
the direction of posterity, and that the formality of 
his exemplary justice might, for the terror of others, 
take the deeper impression in all that did see it, or 
should hear thereof. And now, his former abjura- 
tion plainly appearing, Arundel, by a second sen- 
tence, adjudged him refallen into heresy, and incor- 
rigible, and therefore to be degraded and deposed. 
The order 6. For lest priosthood should suffer in the person 
^^tfon. ^f Sautre, (and all the clergy present, out of a 
religious sympathy, were tender of the honour of 
their own profession,) he was there solemnly de- 
graded, in order as followeth ^ : 

k [See Foxe, ib. p. 674.] 



CENT. XIV. 



of Britain, 



395 



/i. Priest. 



From 
the 
order 
of 



ii. Deacon. 

iii. Sub-dea- 
con, 
iv. Acolyte. 

V. Exorcist. 

vi. Reader. 



f\. The paten, chalice, and a. d. 1400. 
plucking the casule '- 



By 

taking 
?from 
him 



[and vestment] from 
his back. 

ii. The New Testament 
and the stole. 

iii. The albe and the 
maniple. 

iv. The candlestick, ta- 
( per, urceolum. 

V. The book of conjura- 
tions. 

vi. The book of [Divine 
Lections, that is, the 
book of the] church 
legend. 

vii. The keys of the 
church - door, and 
/ i^ surplice ^ 

How many steps are required to climb up to the 
top of popish priesthood ! but, as when a building 
is taken down, one would little think so much tim- 
ber and stone had concurred thereunto, until he sees 
the several parcels thereof lie in ruinous heaps, so 
it is almost incredible how many trinkets must be 
had to complete a priest, but that here we behold 
them solemnly taken asimder in Sautre*s degrada- 



vii. Sexton. 



1 [At the conclusion, this 
part of the sentence was pro- 
nounced against him: ^'Also^ 
** in token of this degradation 
" and deposition, here actually 
•' we have caused thy crown 
'* and ecclesiastical tonsure in 
** our presence to be razed 



'' away and utterly to be abo- 
" lished, like unto the form of 
** a secular layman ; and here 
'* we do put upon the head of 
** thee, the foresaid William, 
" the cap of a lay secular per- 
" son/* Foxe, ib. p. 675.] 



396 The Church History book iv. 

A.D. i4oo.tion. And now he no longer priest, but plain lay- 

a Hen. IV. .11 1 . 1 

man, with the tonsure on his crown razed away, was 

delivered to the secular power, with this compU- 

ment, worth the notmg : beseeching the secular 

court that they would receive fevourably the said 

William unto them thus recommitted. But who 

can excuse their double dealing herein from deep 

hypocrisy, seeing the bishops at the same time, for 

all their fair language, ceased not to call upon the 

king to bring him to speedy execution. 

^'^^'^r ^' Hereupon the king in parliament issued out 

thebiiminghis Warrant to the mayor and sheriffs of London, 

that the said William, being in their custody, should 

be brought forth into some public or open place, 

within the liberty of the city, and there really to 

be burned, to the great horror of his offence, and 

manifest example of other Christians ™ ; which was 

performed accordingly. Thus died this worthy man ; 

and though we be as far from adoring his relics as 

such adoration is from true religion, yet we cannot 

but be sensible of the value of such a saint ; nor 

can we mention his memory without paying an 

honourable respect thereunto. His death struck a 

terror into those of his party who hereafter were 

glad to enjoy their conscience in private, without 

public professing the same; so that now the ship 

of Christ, tossed with the tempest of persecution, 

had all her sails took down, yea, her mast cut close 

to the deck, and, without making any visible shew, 

was fain to lie poor and private till this storm was 

over-passed; the archbishop Arundel being most 



^ YoinQ, Martyr. I. p. 675, out of whom the effect of this 
story is taken. 



CENT. XIV. of Britain, 897 

furious and croel in detecting and suppressing alM-i>->4oo. 

suspected of piety. ■* 

8. Synods of the clergy were never so frequent a surfeit 
before or since, as in his time, when scarce a yearaiSshop* 
escaped without a synod called or continued therein. ^^^®* * 
Most of these were but ecclesiastical meetings for 
secular money. Hereupon a covetous, ignorant 
priest, guilty of no Greek, made this derivation of 
the word synodus (far fetched in itself, but coming 
close to him) from crumena sine nodoy because at 
such assemblies the purse ought ever to be open, 
without knots tied thereon, ready to disburse such 
such sums as should be demanded. Indeed the 
clergy now contributed much money to the king, 
having learned the maxim commended in the come- 
dian, Pecuniam in loco negligere maxumum interdum 
est lucrum " ; and perceiving on what ticklish terms 
their state stood, were forced to part with a great 
proportion thereof to secure the rest, the parlia- 
ment now shrewdly pushing at their temporal pos- 
sessions®; for although, in the first year of king 
Henry, the earls of Northumberland and Westmore- 
land came from him to the clergy with a compli- 

n Terent. Adelph. " and wasted in this realm, 

^ Vide infra in Hist, of Ab- " which should suffice to find 

beys, ii. cap. i. ["In a par- "150 earls and 1500 knights, 

** liament holden at London in ^' 6200 esquires and 100 hos- 

"the Lent season, 1410, the " pitals more than now be,' &c. 

'* knights and burgesses pre- ** But when they went about 

*' sented to the king a bill in ** to declare out of what places 

'* this form : ' To the most ex- '* those great sums were to be 

'' cellent lord the king^ and all '' levied whereof the foresaid 

** the nobles in this present '^ states should be endowed, 

** parliament assembled, your '* they wanted in their account ; 

" faithful commons humbly do '* wherefore the king com- 

'* shew that our sovereign lord '* manded them that from 

*' the king may have the tem- " thenceforth they should not 

'' poral possessions and lands " presume to move any such 

" which by the bishops, abbots^ "matter." Stow's Chron. p. 

*' and priors are proudly spent 338.] 



898 



The Church History 



BOOK lY. 



A. D. 1400. ment that the king only desired their prayers and 
^' .'none of their money, (kingdoms have their honey- 
moon when new princes are married unto them,) yet 
how much afterwards he received from them the 
ensuing draught of synods summoned in his days 
doth present p. 





Place, 


PresidetU, 


A. D. 1399. 


I. St. 
Paul's, 


The prior 
and chap- 




in Lon- 


ter of Can- 




don* 


terbuiy, in 
the arch- 
bishop's 
absence. 


A.D. 1400. 


2. Ibid. 


Thomns 
Arundel. 



Preacher, 



Test, 



WiUiam I Cor 
bishop of meum 



Roches- 
ter. 



diligit 

prindpes 

Israel. 



Money 

granted to the 

King. 



Nothing at 
this time hut 
the clergy's 
prayers re- 
quired 4. 



A tenth and 
half; for a 
single tenth 
was first 
proffered him, 
and he re- 
fused it r. 



The other Acts 
thereof. 



The king, at the 
request of the 
universities, pro- 
mised to take 
order with the 
pope's provisions 
and provensions, 
that so learned 
men might be 
advanced. St. 
George his day 
made holy. 

Nothing else of 
moment passed, 
save'Sautre's 
condemnation* 



P [Parker,] Antiq. Brit. p. 
409^ et Harpsfield, Hist. Ang. 
p. 618, out of whom the fol- 
lowing table of synods is com- 
posed, [and from whom they 
are copied by Harduin, Concil. 
vii. 1925. See also Wilkins' 
Concilia^ III. p. 238 sq.] 

4 [See Wake's State of the 
Church, p. 337. ** In the last 
" convocation (meaning this of 
" 1399) the king demanded no 
" money of the clergy ; but if 
" the chronicle of St. Alban's 
'* may be relied upon, it was 
*' not long before he did it. 
" He sent out supplicatory 
** letters to all the clergy for a 
" subsidy equal to one tenth ; 



€t 



€( 



*' and it being his first request, 
** the clergy thought it neces- 
'* sary to comply with it." 
Wake, ib. p. 338.] 

^ [" About the same time 
that this parliament met, the 
archbishop of Canterbury 
" summoned his provincial sy. 
*' nod to assemble at London 
'* for church affairs, and which 
" therefore I look upon to have 
*' been properly an ecclesias- 
'^ tical council, not a state con- 
" vocation. (Register, Arun- 
" dell, p. ii. f. 178.) In the 
" mandate for summoning it 
'^ we find nothing of the affairs 
*' of the king and kingdom, 
*' but all turns upon the foot 



CEKT. XIV. 



of Britain. 



399 



Place. 



3. St. 
Paul'S) 
in Lon- 
don. 



President. 



lliomas 
ArundeL 



4. Ibid. 



Henry, 
bishop of 
Linc^, 
the arch- 
bishop be- 
ing absent 
in an em- 
bassy. 



Preacher. 



Text. 



Money 

granted to the 

King. 



At the in- 
stance of 
the earl of 
Somerset and 
lord Ross 
the treasurer, 
a tenth was 
granted. 



A tenth to- 
wards the 
king*s charges 
in suppress- 
ing the late 
rebels. 



The other Acts 
thereof. 



A. D. 1400. 
a Hen. IV. 



A. D. 1402. 



The clergy re- 
newed their pe- 
tition of right to 
the king, that 
they should not 
be proceeded 
against by tem- 
poral judges, nor 
forced to sell 
their goods for 
provision for the 
king*s court. 
No answer ap- 
pears. 



Constituted that ; A. D. 1404. 
the obsequies of 
every English 
bishop deceased 
should be cele- 
brated in all the 
cathedrals of the 
kingdom. 



<< 

St 

«c 

€€ 

« 
c< 

ft 

<< 
<4 
« 
€t 
<< 
€* 
<« 
«< 
€€ 
4€ 
€t 
€C 



of church business. At the 
opening of the synod the 
archbishop, expounding the 
causes and affairs for which 
he celebrated his provincial 
council, commonly called a 
convocation of the clergy, 
mentions these two: Pro 
reformatione defectuum; ac 
prcBcipue pro inquisitione 
hcpreiicorum. (Arundell, ib. 
1 79.) Accordingly, upon 
these two the chief business 
of the council terminated : 
first, Sautre was sentenced 
and degraded, (Reg. Arun- 
dell, ib. i8t,) and by order 
of the king, at the advice of 
the lay lords in parliament, 
was burnt. (Rot. Parlia- 
ment. 2 Hen. IV. num. 29.) 
Then others were convened 
and tried for heresy; after 
that some constitutions were 
made in matters relating to 



the church, against the vio- 
laters of churches, about the 
habits of clerks, &c. (Regist. 
Eccles. Cant. M.) There 
was, indeed, a tenth and half 
given to the king ; but that 
we know was often done in 
church councils as well as in 
state convocations. In short, 
the assembly was held by the 
sole authority of the arch- 
bishop, and in the other pro- 
vince no such meeting at all 
appears to have been had . For 
all which reasons I look upon 
this synod to have been a 

g roper ecclesiastical council, 
eld only for the convenience 
of bishops and prelates, and 
the better dispatch of the 
church's affairs at the same 
time that the parliament 
met." Wake's State of the 
Church, p. 339.] 



400 



The Church History 



BOOK ir. 



A. D. 140a 
2 Hen. IV. 


Place. 


PrendenU 


Preacher. 


TexU 


Mcney 

granted to the 

King, 


The other Acts 
thereof. 




A. D. 1405. 


5. St. 


Thomas 






A tenth. 


Nothing of con- 




Paurs, 


Arundel. 






when the 


sequence. 




in Lon- 








laity in par- 






don. 








liament gave 
nothing. 




A. D. 1406. 


6. Ibid. 


Henry 


Thomas, 


Magister 


A tenth. 


Nothing of mo- 






Beaufort, 


bishop of 


adest, et 




ment. 






bishop of 


Carlisle. 


vocatte. 










Manches- 














ter, Uie 














ardibishop 














being 














absent. 










A. D. 1408. 


7. Ibid. 


Thomas 


John, 


Faciat 




This synod was 






Arundel. 


monk of 
St. Au- 
gustine, 
in Can- 
terbury. 


unus- 
quisque 
opus 
suum. 




principally em- 
ployed in sup- 
pressing of 
schism, and the 
following synod 
in the same year 
to the same pur- 




8. Ibid. 


Idem. 


John 
Botel, 
general 
of the 
Francis- 
cans. 


Vos vo- 
cati estis 
in uno 
corpore. 




pose. 


• 

A. D. 141 1. 


9. Ibid. 


Henry, 


John 


Stellm 


A tenth, and 


Little else, save 


T^ 


^ 


bishop of 


Lang. 


dederunt 


a subsidy 


some endeavours 






Winches- 


don, 


lumen. 


granted, saith 


against Widifie^s 






ter, the 


monk of 




Matthew Par- 


opinions. 






ardibishop 


Canter- 




ker 8, but 








being 


bury. 




others say' 








abroad in 






the clergy ex- 








an em- 






cused them- 








bassy. 






selves as 
drained dry 
with former 
payments. 
Also the 
pope^s agent, 
proggmg for 
money, was 
denied it. 




A. D. 141 2. 


10. Ibid. . Thomas 


John 


Diligite 


A tenth. The 


The pope^s rents 




Arundel. 


Godmer- 


lumen 


clergy com- 


sequestered into 






sham. 


sapien- 


plained to the 


the king's hands 






monk of 


tin om- 


king of their 


during the schism 








Canter- 


nes qui 


grievances. 


betwixt Gn^jory 








bury. 


praeestis. 


but received 
no redress. 


the Twelfth and 
Benedict. 



s Antiq. Brit. p. 410. ^ Harpsfield, Eecl. Ang. p. 619. 



CENT. XV. ofBritam. 401 

We will not avouch these all the conventions ofA. 0.1412. 
the clergy in this king's reign, (who had many sub- '^ ^°' ^l 
ordinate meetings in reference to their own occa- 
sions,) but these of most public concernment. Know 
this also, that it was a great invitation (not to say 
an enforcement) to make them the more bountiful 
in their contributions to the king, because their 
leaders were suspicious of a design now first set on 
foot, in opposition to all religious houses, (as then 
termed,) to essay their overthrow ; which project 
now, as a pioneer, only vn*ought beneath ground, 
yet not so insensibly but that the church statists 
got a discovery thereof, and in prevention were very 
satisfying to the king's pecuniary desires ; insomuch 
that it was in effect but ask and have, such their 
compliance to all purposes and intents, the rather 
because this kinsr had appeared so zealous to arm 
the bUhops ^a. irribU !L .^ the poor naked 
Lollards, as then they were nicknamed. 

9. Now we pass from the convocation to the par- a new 
liament, only to meddle with church matters therein ; 
desiring the reader to dispense in the margin with 

a new chronology of this king's reign ; assuring him 
that whatsoever is written is taken out of the au- 
thentic records of the parliament in the Tower. 

10. It was moved in parliament, that no Welch- a severe 
man, bishop or other, be justice, chamberlain, chan-^„Tt the 
cellor, treasurer, sheriff^ constable of a castle, receiver, ^^ ®*^^' 
escheator, coroner, or chief forester, or other officer 
whatsoever, or keeper of records*, or lieutenant in the 

said offices, in any part of Wales, or of council to any 
English lord, notwithstanding any patent made to 
the contrary : Cum clattsula non obstante, licet WaU 
liens natus. 

t Ex Rot. Par. in tur. Lond. in hoc anno. 

FULLER, VOL. II. D d 



BOOK rv. 



A.V, :<.?X. 



IL b wu^ loffv^tnsd. dot tlie kin^ wiDeCfa it ex- 
tik& lodMfifr : sod fsr tiiefli and odien; which he 



^tutMJx^ hsdi iwud ^uud azid lo^ li^i^cs towsds him, oar 
ttud Irjpd 1^ lose ^rill he adrised hr the adTiee of 
hi§ oQQBueJL 

12. Sodi » vooader vhj the paibaneiit was so 
iiMaeitted aipuQSt the WcJcfa (weiiig Henry prince of 
Waleft «a^ their ovn coimtmiiaii h(»ii at Mmi- 
nKiQth) mar coi»der, how now, or tot lately, Owai 
Gkn^jwie, a Welch rcibba; (adTanced by the mol- 
titude c^ his followers into the lepotation of a 
general; luul made nraeh qml in Wales. Now 
commendable was the king^s charity, ^o would 
not return a national mischief for a personal injury, 
seeing no man can choose the place of his nativity, 
though he may bemoan and hate the bad practices 
of his own nation. 

TW 4fiM. 13, The Idnefs courteous exception for the Welch 

tension id , 

¥fMi bishops putteth us upon a necessaiy inquiry, who 
ii^Sf^fi^ and what they were, placed in sees at this time. 

tiflM* 



OUIDO DE MOJTA. 

Or of Angleiey a. 
A true Briton by 
Mrtb, witneMed by 
Um name* He wag 
At tlie preient lord 
treamirer of Eng. 
land V. In whona 
the king much oon- 
ftded, though T. 
Walningham be 
pliHMed to dash hii 
memory, that he 

WM the OAUM of 

much mlnohief ^. 



Llandaff. 
Thomai Vevt- 

tLKLL. 

His surname 
speaks him Eng- 
lish by extraction, 
and he was of no 
remarkable acti- 
vity *. 



Bangor, 

Richard Yovg. 

He might be 
English or Wddi 
by his name, but 
I believe the latter. 
A man of merit 
sent by the king 
into Gomany, to 
give satisfacti<m of 
king Henry's pro- 
ceedings 7. 



St.AMaph, 

JoHX Tretauk. 

Second of that 
Christian and sor- 
name, bishqp of 
that see, a Wekfa- 
man no doubt, he 
was sent (saitii T. 
Walsmgfaam z) to 
Spain to give ac* 
count of the king's 
proceedings. Very 
loyal at the pre- 
sent, but after his 
return home he 
sided with Owen 
Olendowre. 



u [(Godwin De Preesul. Angl. 
p. 58a.] 

V [Ap{K>inted to this office 
Oct. 35, 140a.] 



w [Hist. Angl. p. 370.] 
» [Godwin, ib. 609. In the 
year 1407 translated to Wor- 
cester. Walsing. 376.] 



CENt. XV. 



of Britain, 



408 



Bat thoufifh the EJnfflish at this time were so severe a.d. i4i». 
against the Welch, king Henry the seventh (bom in '^ — -' 
the bowels of Wales at Pembroke, and assisted in 
the gaining of the crown by the valour of his coun- 
trymen) some years after plucked down this par- 
tition wall of difference betwixt them; admitting 
the Welch to English honours and offices, as good 
reason, equality of merits should be rewarded with 
equality of advancement*. 

14. Sir John Tiptoft (made afterwardh earl ofTheped- 
Worcester) put up a petition to the parliament lords and 
touching Lollards, which vn-ought so on the lords, ^'J^^^Sig 
that they joined in a petition to the king, according J^^ 
to the tenor following. 

" To our most redonhted and graciotcs sovereign 

the king^. 

" Your humble son, Henry prince of Wales, and 
the lords spiritual and temporal in this present 
parliament, humbly shew, that the church of Eng- 
** land hath been, and now is, endowed with tem- 



« 



« 



y [Godwin, ib. 623. After- 
wards translated to Rochester^ 
in 1404, and made keeper of 
the privy seal. Angl. Sac. i. 

379-] 

» [Hist. Angl. 370.] 

» [** That was a work re- 
•* served for king Harry the 
** Eighth, in the 27th of whose 
** reign there passed an act of 
** parliament, by which it was 
'• enacted, * That the country 
'* of Wales should be, stand, 
** and continue for ever from 
*• thenceforth incorporated, 
** united, and annexed to and 

with this realm of England. 



i( 



'* And that all and singular 
'* person and persons, born and 
" to be bom in the said prin- 
" cipality, country, or dominion 
*' of Wales, shall have, enjoy, 
" and inherit all and singular 
" freedoms, liberties, rights, 
" privileges and laws, within 
** this realm and other the 
'* king's dominions, as other 
*' the king's subjects naturally 
^* born within the same have^ 
'* enjoy, and inherit/ " Heylin 
in The Appeal, &c. P. 11. p. 46. 
^ Contracted by myself (ex- 
actly keeping the words) out 
of the original. 

D d 2 









404 77ie Church History book it. 

A.D. 1412.^ poral possessions, by the gifts and grants, as well 

'^ ^ I" of your royal progenitors as by the ancestors of 

^ the said lords temporal, to maintain divine service, 
** keep hospitality, &c. to the honour of God, and 
** the soul's heaJth of your progenitors and the said 
" lords temporal. 

" Yet now of late, some, at the instigation of the 
^ enemy against the foresaid church and prelates, 

have, as well in public sermons as in conventicles 

and secret places called schools, stirred and moved 
« the people of your kingdom to take away the said 

temporal possessions from the said prelates, with 

which they are as rightly endowed, as it hath 
« been or might be best advised or imagined, by 
" the laws and customs of your kingdom, and of 
^^ which they are as surely possessed as the lords 
'* temporal are of their inheritances. 

" Wherefore, in case that this evil purpose be not 
" resisted by your royal majesty, it is very likely that 
" in process of time they will also excite the people 
" of your kingdom for to take away frx)m the said 
" lords temporal their possessions and heritages, so 
" to make them common to the open commotion of 
" your people. 

" There be also others, who publish and cause to 
** be published evilly and falsely among the people 
" of your kingdom, that Richard, late king of Eng- 
** land, (who is gone to God, and on whose soul 
" God through his grace have mercy,) is still alive. 
** And some have writ and published divers fiJse 
" pretended prophecies to the people ; disturbing 
** them who would to their power live peaceably, 
" serve God, and faithfully submit and obey you 
" their liege lord. 



CENT. XV. of Britain. 406 

" Wherefore may it please your royal majesty inA.D.i4i«. 

^ maintenaiice of the honour of God, conservation nf '4 Hen, i v. 
the laws of the holy church, as also in the preser- 
vation of the estate of you, your children, and the 
lords aforesaid, and for the quiet of all your king- 
dom, to ordain by a statute in the present parlia- 
ment, by the assent of the lords aforesaid and the 
commons of your kingdom, that in case any man 
or woman, of what estate or condition they be, 
preach, publish, or maintain, hold, use, or exercise, 
any schools, if any sect or doctrine hereafter against 
the catholic faith either preach, publish, maintain, 
or write a schedule, whereby the people may be 
moved to take away the temporal possessions of 

^ the aforesaid prelates, or preach and publish that 
Richard late king, who is dead, should still be in 
full life, or that the fool in Scotland is that king 
Richard who is dead ^ ; or that publish or vmte any 
pretended prophecies to the commotion of your 
people ; 

" That they and every of them be taken and put 
in prison, without being delivered in bail or other- 
wise, except by good and sufficient mainprise, to 
be taken before the chancellor of England," &c. 
15. See we here the policy of the clergy, who had The prince 

gained prince Henry (set as a transcendent by him-^^* 

self in the petition) to their side, entering his youth ?^** 

against the poor Wiclivites, and this earnest en-Kvites. 

gaged him to the greater antipathy against them 

when possessed of the crown^. 

c [This tradition is thoroughly ^ [Walsingham narrates an. 

sifted in the third volume of anecdote very much to the cre- 

P. F. Tytler's History of Scot- dit of this prince. In the year 

land.] 141 o, when an artisan was de- 

Dd 3 



4( 






406 The Church History book it. 

A.D. 141 1. 16. Observe also the subtilty of the clergy in this 

'^ *^ 1 medley petition, interweaving their ovra interest 

tioos df*^ ^th the king's, and endeavouring to possess him, 

^^^1^ that all the adversaries to their superstitions v^ere 

interest, euemies also and traitors to his majesty. 

WidiTsts 17- Now as conventicles were the name of dis- 

Kbook. grace cast on, schools was the term of credit owned 

by the Wiclivists for the place of their meeting. 

WTiether because the school of Tyrannus*, wherein 

St. Paul disputed, was conceived by them senior in 

scripture to any materisd church ; or that their teach- 

iug therein was not in entire discourses, but admitted 

(as in the schools) of interiocutory opposition on 

occasion. 

u>o»r^ 18. By Lollards all know the Wiclivites are 

why lo 

called. meant, so called from Walter Lollardus one of their 
teachers in Germany^, (and not as the monk al- 
luded, quasi lolia in ara Domini^,) flourishing many 

livered over to the secular arm " respuit tant« dignationis ob- 
and condemned to be burnt in '* lationem ; non dubium qain 
Smithfieldy for denying the real " maligno spirita induratus." 
presence in the eucharist, the Hist. Angl. 378. This has also 
prince used all his endeavours been narrated with considerable 
with the unhappy man to pre- additions by John Fox. Mar- 
vail on him to recant ; but his tyrol. i. 679.] 
efforts being ineffectual the ^ Acts xix. 9. 
execution proceeded. But with ^ Trithemius in Chron. anno 
a martyr's zeal the culprit had 13 15, [and 13 21, p. 274, 277. 
little of a martyr's courage ; ed. Basil.] 
his pitiable outcries had so e Of S. Aug. Cant. MS. anno 
much effect upon the prince 1406. [Many persons according 
that he stopped the progress of to archbishop Parker ( Antiq. 
the flames, and again endea. Britan. p. 394.) supposed that 
voured to move the sufferer to Wicliffe*s followers were call- 
recant : offered him all means ed Lollards, because they eat 
of consolation ; a full and en. such meats as were prohibited 
tire pardon, and a pension of in Lent. But in this they 
threepence a day from the royal are mistaken ; for they were 
purse for the rest of his life : called Lollards from loUum, 
again his intentions were frus- and that from the following 
trated; '' miser refocillatospiritu circumstance. A certain friar 



CBNT.XV. 



of Britain. 



407 



years before WicliiOre, and much consenting with a. d. 1412. 
him in judgment. As for the word LoUard retained -^ — '■ — ^ 
in our Statutes since the reformation, it seems now 
as a generical name, to signify such who in their 
opinions oppose the settled religion of the land, in 
which sense the modem sheriffs are bound by their 
oath to suppress them. 

19* The parenthesis concerning king Richard ^' who Achan- 
** is gone to God, and on whose soul God through SewT*^*^ 
" his grace have mercy," is according to the doctrine 
of that age. For they held all in purgatory gone to 
Crody because assured in due time of their happiness; 
yet so that the sufirages of the living were profitable 
for them. Nor feared they to offend king Henry 
by their charitable presumption of the final happy 
estate of king Richard his professed enemy, knowing 
he cared not where king Richard was, so be it not 
living and sitting on the English throne. 

20. As for the report of king Richard's being still King 
alive, it is strange any should believe it, if it be why be- 
true that his corpse for some days were at London ^®^®** ^^ 
exposed to open view : understand it done at dis- 
tance, lest coming too near might discover some 
violence offered on his person. It is probable that 
the obscurity of his burial (huddled into his grave at 
Langley in Hertfordshire) gave the lustre to the 



of the mendicant order, preach, 
ing at Paul's Cross against the 
doctrines of Wicliffe, which 
were then gaining strength, 
took for the subject of his text 
the parable of the *' enemy 
*• sowing tares" (lolia) ; in 
which he frequently repeated 
the word kUa, comparing the 
followers of Wicliffe to tares. 



From this occurrence the word 
was caught up by the people^ 
and these men were called Lol- 
lards. The term thus applied 
appears first in the constitu- 
tions of archbishop Arundel, in 
which he complains of the 
church being infected, ** novo 
** damnabili Lollardise no- 
" mine."] 

D d 4 



408 The Church History book it. 

A. D. 141 2. report that he was still alive, believed of those who 
'^"^"'^^- desired it. 

JJj^^^^°" 21. Whereas this law against Lollards extended 
m*rtyr. to womon, though many of the weaker sex were in 
trouble upon that account, yet on my best inquiry 
I never found any one put to death ; Anna Askewe 
being the first, who in the reign of king Henry the 
Eighth was burnt for her religion. 
Who meant 22. A Scotch writer tells us, that king Richard 
iM scoaand,^eA disguised into Scotland, discovered himself to 
and was honourably entertained by Robert the king 
thereof. Adding that Richard, who would no more 
of the world, gave himself wholly to contenoiplation, 
lived, died, and buried at Sterling, possibly some 
mimic might personate him there, and is the fod 
mentioned in this petition^. 
Cruel per- 23. Hereupon it was, that the poor Lollards were 
prosecuted with such cruelty that the prisons were 
full of them ; many forced to abjure, and such who 
refused used without mercy, as in Mr. Fox is largely 
related^. 
Archbishop 24. Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, 
going to came to Oxford with a pompous train, accompanied 
f^^' with many persons of honour, and particularly with 
his nephew, Thomas Fitz-Alan, earl of Arundel; 
his intent was juridically to visit the university, ex- 
pecting to be solemnly met and sumptuously enter- 
tained, according to his place and dignity^. 
Is resisted 25. But SCO the spito of it, Richard Courtenay, the 
chancellor. chancoUor of Oxford, (whom by his surname and 

^ Boetius [Scot. Hist. lib. visiting the university of Cam. 

xvi. p. 339.] bridge j{/re metropoUtico in the 

i [See the Marty rology, I. year 1405, in Parker's Antiq. 

p. 774.] Brit. p. 41 X, and Wake's State 

^ [See also an account of his of the Church, 348.] 



c:ent. XV. of Britain. 409 

high spirit, I should guess descended from the earls a.d. 1412. 

of Devonshire), with Benedict Brent and John Birch, '- — • 

the two proctors, denied the archbishop entrance into 
the university under the notion of a visitor, though 
as a stranger, great prelate and privy councillor, 
all welcome was provided for him and his retinue. 
Arundel was angry with the affi-ont, and finding force 
both useless (the scholars siding with the chancellor) 
and inconsistent with his gravity, was fain fairly to 
retreat, re infecta^ to London ; the rather because the 
chancellor had submitted the cause in controversy to 
the hearing and determining of his majesty. 

26. King Henry at the joint instance of both The king 
parties, sununoned them to Lambeth, to hear andthf^^" 
determine the controversy ; the chancellor of Oxford ^J^^^p 
produceth an army of large bulls of the pope : arch- 
bishop Arundell brought forth one champion, viz. 
an instrument in the reign of king Richard the 
Second, wherein the king adjudged all their papal 
privileges void, as granted to the damage of the 
crown, and much occasioning the increase of Lollards; 
not that it was so done intentionally by his holiness 
(for who can suspect the pope turn Lollard?) but 
accidentally it came to pass, that the university of 
Oxford freed from archiepiscopal visitation by virtue 
of those bulls, the Wiclivists therein escaped from 
consistorian censure. Hereupon king Henry pro- 
nounced sentence on the archbishop's side^ as by the 
ensuing instrument vdll plainly appear. 

" Et ulterius tam auctoritate sua regia, quam vir- Feb. 9, 
" tute submissionis prsedictse sibi factse adtunc ibidem ^"^^* 
** arbitratus fiiit, ordinavit, consideravit, decrevit, et 
" adjudicavit, quod praedictus archiepiscopus et sue- 



u 



410 Tke Chunk HuUny book iy. 

p. 1412.^ oesBmeB tmi in peqietaum habeant YisitaticHiem et 
— ^ jurifldictioiiem in uniTeisitate praedicta, tarn cancel- 
^ laiii commiBsarionmi, qoam procnratomm ejusdem 
^ nniyeratatis, qui [m> tempore fberint^ nee non 
^ omninm doctonun, magtstroram, regentium et 
*^ non-regentium, ac scholarium ^osdem nniversitatis 
**' quommcanque, eommque servientium, aUammque 
^ personarom cujnscunqae status et eonditionis exti- 
^ terint, et etiam ejusdem uniyersitatis ut univar* 
** sitatis^ et quod cancellaiius, conunissarii, procu- 
latores nniversitatis prsedictae, qui pro tempore 
fuerint, eommque sucoessores, et omnes alii in 
^ dicta universitate pro tempore commorantes, fii- 
^ turis temporibus ridem archiepiscopo, et suoces- 
^ soribus suis in visitatione et jurisdictione univer- 
^ sitatis pra»iictae etiam ut univ^^tatis, in omnibus 
^ pareant et obediant. £t quod nee dictus cancel- 
*^ larius, eommissarii, nee procuratores nniversitatis 
^ praedietse, nee eorum successores, nee aliquis alius 
^ in universitate prsedicta aUquod privilegium seu 
^ beneficium exemptionis ad excludendum prseiatum 
^ archiepiscopum seu successores sues de visitatione 
** et jurisdictione praedictis, in universitate antedicta 
^^ colore alicujus bullae seu alterius tituli cujuscunque 
^ erga praedictum archiepiscopum seu successores 
" suos, clament, habeant, seu vendicent, lillo mode 
" in fdturum. Et qiiod quotiens cancellarius, com- 
** missarii, vel locum tenens ipsorum, vel alicujus 
** ipsorum, vel procuratores dictae nniversitatis qui 
" pro tempore fuerint, vel eorum successores, sive 
** aliquis eorum impedierint vel impedierit praefatum 
" archiepiscopum vel successores suos, ant ecclesiam 
suam praedictam, aut ipsorum vel alicujus ipsorum 
commissarium, vel commissaries, de hujusmodi 






CENT. XV. of Britain. 411 



^ yisitatione give jurisdictione dictae universitatis, velA.D.1412. 
** in aliquo contravenerint, vel aliquis eomm contra- -^^ — '- — -* 
** venerit, dictis, arbitrio, ordinacioni, sive judicio 
per prsefatum Ricardum nuper regem factis, sive 
arbitrio, judicio, decreto, considerationi vel ordi- 
nationi ipsius Domini nostri regis Henrici in hoc 
casu, vel si aliquis dictse universitatis in futurum 
impedierit dictum archiepiscopum, vel successores 
sues, aut ecclesiam suam praedictam, aut ipsorum 
" vel alicujus ipsorum commissarium, vel commis- 
sarios, de visitatione sua aut jurisdictione ante- 
dicta, vel in aliquo contravenerit dictis, arbitrio, 
ordinationi, sive judicio per prsefatum Ricardum 
nuper regem in forma praedicta factis, vel arbitrio, 
judicio, decreto, considerationi vel ordinationi ipsius 
Domini nostri regis Henrici : Et quod [quotiens] 
" cancellarius, commissarii vel procuratores universi- 
tatis prsedictse tunc non fecerint diligentiam et posse 
eorum ad adjuvandum dictum archiepiscopum vel 
successores sues, aut ecclesiam suam prsedictam, seu 
commissarium vel commissaries sues in hujusmodi 
casu, ac etiam ad puniendum hujusmodi impedientes 
" et resistentes : Quod totiens omnes franchesiae, 
** libertates, et omnia privilegia ejusdem universitatis 
in manus Domini regis vel hseredum suorum sei- 
siantur, in eisdem manibus ipsorum Domini regis 
" vel haeredum suorum remansura, quousque prae- 
^* dictus archiepiscopus vel successores sui pacificam 
" visitationem et jurisdictionem in forma praedicta, 
" in dicta universitate habuerit vel habuerint, et 
'' etiam totiens cancellarius, commissarii, et procu- 
" ratores ejusdem universitatis, qui pro tempore 
" fuerint, et eorum successores, ac universitas prae- 
" dicta solvant, et teneantur solvere ipsi Domino 






it 









412 The Church History book iv. 

A.D.141^*^' nostro regi Henrico et haeredibus suis mille libras 
'/ ■ ^^ — '- " legalis monetae Angliae. 

** Concordat cum original!, 

" GULIELMUS RyLEY." 

Afterwards the king confirmed the same, with the 
consent of the lords and commons in parliament, as 
in the Tower rolls doth plainly appear. 
The eflTect 27. See WO here the srand difference betwixt the 

of the sta- , ^ 

tate of pr<e- pope's power in England before and after the statute 
*" ^^' of pnemunire. Before it, his avro? S^jy was authen- 
tical, and his bulls received next to canonical scrip- 
ture. Since, that statute hath broken off their best 
seals, wherein they cross the royal power ; and in all 
things else they enter into England mannerly with, 
" Good king by your leave sir," or else they were no 
better than so much waste parchment. 
FareweU to 28. This doth acquaint us with a perfect character 
the Fourth, of king Henry the Fourth, who, though courteous, 
was not servile to the pope. And sir Edward Cook^ 
accounteth this his Oxford action (though imwilling 
to transcribe the instrument for the tediousness 
thereof) a noble act of kingly power in that age, 
and so we take our ferewell of king Henry the 
Fourth, not observed (as all English kings before 
and after him) to have erected and endowed any 
one entire house of religion, as first or sole founder 
thereof, though a great benefactor to the abbey of 
Leicester, and college of Fotheringhay in Northamp- 
tonshire; his picture is not so well known by his 
head as his hood, which he weareth upon it in an 
antic fashion peculiar to himself. 

1 Instit. [Part. iv. p. 228. ed. 1648.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain. 413 ' 

29* At the commons' petition to the king in par- a. d. 141 3. 

liament, that all Irish hegging-priests, called chaum '—^ 

ber-deakyns^^ should avoid the realm before Michael- deakyns 
mas next, they were ordered to depart by the time EngLnd. 
aforesaid, upon pain of loss of goods aad imprison- 
ment during the king's pleasure ". 

30. I had almost forgotten, that just a month The death 
before the death of king Henry the Fourth, Thomas Arundel. 
Arundel archbishop of Canterbury expired ; famished 

to death, not for want of food, but a throat to 
swallow it, such the swelling therein, that he could 
neither speak nor eat for some days^. I may safely 
report what others observe, how he, who by his cruel 
canons forbade the food to the soul, and had pro- 
nounced sentence of condemnation on so many in- 
nocents, was now both starved and strick dumb 
together. Henry Chichely succeeded him in the 
place, whose mean birth interrupted the chain of 
noble archbishops, his two predecessors and sue- 
cessors being earls' sons by their extraction. 

31. The prelates, and abbots especially, began nowA.D.1414. 
to have the active soul of king Henry in suspicion ; jealous^ 
for working heads are not so vnlling to follow old]^"^ . 
ways as well-pleased to find out new ones. Such a«^^*y- 
meddling soul must be sent out of harm's way : if 

that the clergy found not this king some work 
abroad, he would make them new work at home. 
Had his humour hiappened to side vrith the Lollards, 
Henry the Fifth would have saved king Henry the 
Eighth much pains in demolishing of monasteries. 

32. Hereupon the clergy cunningly gave vent to Divert it 

on a war in 
France. 
"» [That is chamber-deacons.] of the Rolls^ vol. IV. p. 13.] 

tt Rotuli in turre in hoc ^ [See Parker's Autiq. Brit. 

anno. [See the printed copy p/413.] 






414 The Church History book iv. 

A.D.i4i4.his activity, by diverting it on a long war upon the 
— ^^— ^ French, where his victories are loudly sounded forth' 
by our state historians. A war of more credit than 
profit to England in this king's reign, draining the 
men and money thereof. Thus victorious bays bear 
only barren berries, (no whit good for food, and very 
little for physic,) whilst the peaceable olive drops 
down that precious liquor, making the &ce of man 
to shine therewith. Besides, what this king Henry 
gained, his son as quickly lost in France. Thus 
though the providence of nature hath privileged 
islanders by their entire position to secure them'^ 
selves, yet are they unhappy in long keeping their 
acquisitions on the continent. 
The aad S3. Now began the tragedy of sir John Oldcastle^ 
SSkm OM-'^ so largely handled in Mr. Fox, that his pains hath 
***^ given posterity a writ of ease hereinP. He was a 
vigorous knight, whose martial activity vnx)ught him 
into the affections of Joan De la Pole, baroness of 
Cobham, the lord whereof he became {sed quaere^ 
whether an actual baron) by her marriage^. 
His belief. 84. As for the opinions of this sir John Oldcastle, 
they plainly appear in his belief which he drew 
up with his own hand, and presented it first to the 
king, then to the archbishop of Canterbury, wherein 
some things are mther coarsely than fitlsely spoken. 
He knew to speak in the language of the schools 
(so were the meetings of the Wiclivists called) but 
not scholastically ; and I believe he was the first 
that coined and last that used the distinction of the 

P [See the Martyrology, I. the first volume of the Har- 

p.726. An account of sir John leian Miscellany. See also 

Cobham was also ^vritten by Lewis, Lifeof Wicliffe, p.246.] 
John Bale, and reprinted in [q Camden's Brit. p. 233.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain, 415 

church militant, divided into priesthood^ knighthood^ a. d. 1414. 

and commons^ which had no great harm therein as - 

he explained it. As for Parsons his charging him 
with anabaptistical tenets, it is pity that the words 
of a plain meaning man should be put on the rack 
of a Jesuit's malice, to extort by deduction what 
never was intended therein'. 

35. But a worse accusation is charged on his He is 
memory, that he was not only guilty of heresy but ^r^Sn. 
treason. But by the way, it appeareth that Lol- 
lardism then counted heresy was made treason by 
statute, and on that account heresy and treason sig- 
nify no more than heresy, and then heresy, according 

to the abusive language of that age, was the best 
serving of God in those days. But besides this, a 
very formal treason is laid to this lord's account in 
mamier foUovidng. 

It is laid to his charge, that though not present 
in the person vnth his counsel, he encouraged an 
army of rebels, no fewer than twenty thousand, 
which in the dark thickets (expounded in our age 
into plain pasture) of St. Giles' fields nigh London, 
intended to seize on the king's person and his two 
brothers, the dukes of Bedford and Gloucester. Of 
this numerous army, thirty-six are said to be hanged 
and burnt, though the names of three are only 
known, and sir Roger Acton, knight, the only person 
of quality named in the design. 

36. For mine own part, I must confess myself so Theauthor 
lost in the intricacies of these relations, that I know*" ^ 
not what to assent to ■. On the one side, I am loth 

' In his Three Conversions, castle.] 
[II. 249. Wicliffe had be- » [These contradictory rela- 

fore made use of this distinc tions are examined by Lewis, 

tion here attributed to Old- ib. p. 251.] 



416 The Church HiHory book it. 

A. D. 1414. to load the lord Cobham's memory with causelegs 

^crimes, knowing the perfect hatred the clergy in 

that age bare unto him^ and all that looked to- 
wards the reformation in religion. Besides, that 
80,000 men should be brought into the fields and no 
place assigned whence they were to be raised, or 
where mustered, is clogged with much improbability. 
The rather because only the three persons, as is 
aforesaid, are mentioned by name of so vast a 
number. 
liMTcth aU 37. On the other side, I am much startled with 

to the last 

1U7. the evidence that appeareth against him. Indeed I 
am little moved with what T. Walsingham writes, 
(whom all later authors follow, as a flock the bel- 
wether,) knowing him a Benedictine monk of St. 
Albans, bowed by interest to partiality; but the 
records of the Tower, and acts of parliament therein, 
wherein he was solemnly condemned for a traitor as 
well as heretic, challenge belief. For with what 
confidence can any private person "promise credit 
from posterity to his own writings, if such public 
monuments be not by him entertained for authen- 
tical. Let Mr. Fox therefore be this lord Cobham's 
compurgator, I dare not ; and if my hand were put 
on the Bible, I should take it back again. Yet so 
that, as I will not acquit, I will not condemn him, 
but leave all to the last day of the revelation of the 
righteous judgment of God K 
The lord 38. This is most true, that the lord Cobham made 
taken in his oscapo out of the Tower, wherein he was impri- 
soned; fled into Wales, here he lived four years, 
' '^ing at last discovered, and taken by the lord Powis. 
t so, that it cost some blows and blood to appro- 

^ Rom. ii. 5. 



Walei. 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain. 



417 



hend him, till a woman at last with a stool broke a.d. 1414. 

the lord Cobham's legs, whereby being lame he 1 

was brought up to London in a horse-litter. 

39. At last he was drawn upon a hurdle to the His doable 
gallows, his death as his crime being double, hanged ^^^ 
and burned for traitor and heretic. Hence some 

have deduced the etymology of Tyhum firom tie and 
hum^ the necks of ofltending persons being tied there- 
unto, whose legs and lower parts were consumed in 
the flame '*. 

40. Stage poets have themselves been very bold Unjustly 
with, and others very merry at, the memory of sir^^f^ 
John Oldcastle, whom they have fancied a boonP^^^ 
companion, a jovial royster, and yet a coward to 
boot, contrary to the credit of all chronicles, owning 

him a martial man of merit. The best is, sir John 
Falstaff hath relieved the memory of sir John Old- 
castle, and of late is substituted bufibon in his place, 
but it matters as little what petulant poets as what 
malicious papists have written against him. ^^ "^ 

41. Richard Flemjoig, doctor of divinity, designed a.d. 144 1. 
by the pope archbishop of York, but, to please king cXg© 
Henry the Fifth, contented with the bishopric of ^^"^*^- 
Lincoln, about this time founded a college, named 
Lincoln college in Oxford ^. It fared the worse be- 
cause he died before it was fully finished, and the 



V [A conceit of Nicholas 
Harpsfield's. The name ap- 
pears to have been derived 
either from '' the Tey or Tey- 
** bourn, a small brook passing 
** near unto it in the former 
*' times. Which brook or 
bourn, arising not far from 
Paddington, hath since been 
^' drawn into several conduits 

FULLEB, VOL. IJ. 



<r 



t€ 



" for the use of the city ;" or 
from *'twey-born, from two 
" little brooks wherewith it is 
*^ insulated in the winter." 
See the Appeal, &c. part 11. 
p. 17.] 

w [See Harpsfield's Hist. Ec- 
clesiastica Angl. p. 649. God- 
win de Praesul. Angl. p. 297. 
Bishop Flemjrng died in 1 43 1 .] 

B e 



418 TTltf Church History book it. 

-^^-Hsi-best guardian to an orphan foundation comes £Bur 
■ short of the father thereof*. Yet was this house 
happy in two bountiful bene&ctors, Thomas Beck^ 
ington, bishop of Bath and Wells, who (according to 
the ingenuity of that age (hath left his memory in a 
beacon with a tun on the walls, and Thomas Bother- 
ham, archbishop of York, adding five fellowships 
thereunto. 

N.Pant 42. Here I wonder what made Nicholas Pont, 

great anti- 

liinooinian. fellow of Mortou College, and scholar enough, to be 
such a back-friend to this college in the in&ncy 
thereof, inveighing bitterly against it y. This is that 
Pont whose fidth many distrust, for his violent 
writing against Wicliffe, but whose charity more 
may dislike for his malice to this innocent college, 
except it was, that he foresaw it would produce in 
time worthy champions of the truth, opposers of his 
erroneous opinions, as indeed it hath, though I be 
unable to give a particular catalogue of them. 

The author 43. Indeed I could much desire, were it in my 

■ooie wedu *^ 

in, though power, to express my service to this foundation, 

house. acknowledging myself for a quarter of a year in 

these troublesome times, though no member of, a 

dweller in it. I will not complain of the deamess 

of this university, where seventeen weeks cost me 

more than seventeen years in Cambridge, even all 

that I had, but shall pray that the students therein 

be never hereafter disturbed upon the like occasion'. 

The ardi- 44, Amougst the modcm worthies of this college 

our church still surviving. Dr. Robert Saunderson, late regius 

and age. 

X [See an account of this Oxon. in App.] Pitz. [in vit. 

learned and munificent prelate 588.] 

in Wood's History of Colleges ' [Coming within '^ the com- 

&c. iii. 234.] pass of delinquency.*' See tiie 

y Bri. Twyne, [Antiq. Acad. Appeal, p. 443, ed. 1840.] 



CEKT. XV. 



of Britain, 



419 



professor, moveth in the highest sphere; as no less a. 0.14^1, 
plain and profitable than able and profound casuist, ^ ^"' 
(a learning almost lost amongst protestants») wrapping 
up sharp thorns in rose leaves, I mean hard matter 
in sweet Latin and pleasant expressions. 





BeeUm* 


J?icAop«. 


Bem^facm/n, 


Isaimed 




Mr. WilKam 




John Forrest, 




- 


Ghamber- 




dean of Wells. 






leyn. 




John Southam, 




[I460.J 


Mr. John Beke. 




archdeacon of 




Mr.JohnTris- 




Oxford. 






trope. 




William Fin- 




[«479-] 


Mr. George 

Strang^wayes. 




dern, esq. 
Henry Beaufort, 




Im88.] 


Mr. William 
Betfaome. 




cardinal, 
bishop of 
Winchester. 




C'^QSO 


Dr. Thomas 








Banke. 




John Buketot. 




[•503.] 


Mr. Thomas 
Prax. 




John Crosby, 
treasurer of 




['S««0 


Dr. John Cot- 




Lincoln. 


William Har- 




tisford. 




Walter Bate. 


rii^ whose 


[•538.] 


Mr. Hugo 


John Underhill, 


Edward Darby. 


writings 




Weston. 


bishop of Ox- 


Wilh'am Dag- 


are mudi 


[1556.] 


Mr. Christo- 


ford c. 


vyle, maj. of 


esteemed by 




pher Bar- 




Oxford. 


the papists. 




grave. 




WiUiam Bish d. 


[ob.i^2.]« 


■[*5S8.] 


Mr. Henry 
Henshaw *. 




Edmund Aud- 
ley, [bishop of 




[«5<So.] 


Dr. Francis 




Sahsbory.] 




F 


Babmgton* 


* 


John Traps. 




[1563.] 


Mr. John 
Bridgwaterb. 




Richaid Kilbie^ 
late rector. 




['574.] 


Mr. John Tat- 
ham. 








[1577.] 


Dr. John Un- 








['590.] 


Dr. Ridiard 
Kilbye. 






Ridiard 


[i6aa] 


Dr. Paul Hood. 






Thornton. 



A [Heronehaw, ccmiinonly 
called Henahaw. Wood, 241.] 

^ [AuthcHT of the celebrated 
work, Goncertatio Ecdesiee Ca- 
tholicfle in Anglia, which he 
published under his latinized 
name, " Aqu^ontanus." See 
Wood'9 Athenee. i. 274.] 

£ 



c [Wood reckons eleven 
bishops as having belonged to 
this foundation, to 1747.^ 

^ [I think this must be a 
mistake for Wm. Smith, bishop 
of Lincoln, since I can find no 
record of Wm. Bish.] 

« Pitz. in vita, p. 801. 

e2 



418 Th§ Church Hish 



w/€fjr i^' 



A^^<* 



A. D. 1411. best ffuardian to an ,. . ' '*\^^^ one recUst, 

•- short of the fr* >.'/!*/^ scholars, wnicb, 






happy in '. /;:, j^^onerB, lately made up 

mgton.1 . :-':^'^'' 

the in'^ • ''•■*"' .>«wet John Williams, bishop 

beac ' < • ' !V^ ^^loinbridge, related only to this 

har ^',w»* ^thereof. Here finding the chapel 

t' ':.-C''^ ijf^^forreBU dean of Wells in the reign 
N.Poiit .''^'^ti^^*iiepff^^'^ Sixth) old, little, and inconve- 
fdnooiS' '^ y ^^ elected a far fairer fahric in the room 

p/i'^^ fle had a good precedent of a Cambridge 
/^ bountj to this house, even Thomas Rother- 
^ ftUow of King's College ^ and master of Pem- 
g^e Hall therein, whom bishop Williams suc- 
^^ed, as in the bishopric of Lincoln and the arch- 
bishopric of York, so in his liberality to this foun- 
dation 8. 
j^ i4f s. 44. On the last of August king Henry the Fifth 
^jS^^^^^ his life, in France ; one of a strong and active 
^^^ body ; neither shrinking in cold nor slothful in heat, 
ff^ going commonly with his head uncovered ; the wear- 
ing of armour was no more cumbersome unto him 
than a cloak. He never shrunk at a wound, nor 



€€ 



K 
€< 
€( 



' ['*At what time Thomas '' which he did exhort the 

Rotherham, alias Scot, bishop "bishop in such manner to 

" of Lincohi, visited his diocese^ ^' good works, and to perfect 

*' he came to Oxford, and, " this his college, which then 

among other places therein, " being imperfect both in its 

to this college, where against " edifices and government^ that 

his coming John Tristrope, " when he concluded his ser- 

'* rector thereof, had provided " mon the bishop stood up and 

" a visitation sermon for him, '* answered the preacher with 

'* taking his text out of the " great love and affection : 

" psalmist running thus^ Vide *'Jacturum se quod petuni." 

" et visita vineam iuam, et rem Wood, ib. 238.] 

" perfice qtiam plantavit deX' ^ [See Wood, ib. 250 ; God- 

" tra tua ; in the handling of win de Prsesul. 698, 299.] 



B^i 



XV. of Britain, 421 

I away his nose for ill savour, nor closed his A. d. 149a. 
or smoke or dust; in diet none less dainty or ii!!^lZi 
o moderate ; his sleep very short, but sound ; 
ortunate in fight, and commendable in all his 
actions : verifying the proverb, that an ill youth may 
make a good man. The nunnery of Sion was built 
and endowed by him, and a college was by him 
intended in Oxford, had not death prevented him. 

45. As for Katherine de Valois, daughter to Queen 
Charles the Sixth, king of France, widow of kingmamed 
Henry, she was afterward married to, and had issue *«^- 
by, Owen ap Tudor, a noble Welshman ; and her 
body lies at this day unburied in a loose coffin at 
Westminster, lately shewed to such as desire it, and 
there dependeth a story thereon. 

46. There was an old prophecy among the Eng- But never 
lish, (observed by foreigners to be the greatest 
prophecy-mongers^, and whilst the devil knows their 

diet they shall never want a dish to please the 
palate,) that an English prince, bom at Windsor, 
should be unfortunate in losing what his father had 
acquired ; whereupon king Henry forbade queen 
Katherine (big with child) to be delivered there, 
who out of the corrupt principle, Nitimur in vetitum^ 
and affecting her father before her husband, was 
there brought to bed of king Henry the Sixth, in 
whose reign the feiir victories woven by his father's 
valour were, by cowardice, carelessness, and conten- 
tions, unravelled to nothing. 

47. Report (the greatest, though not the truest By her own 
author) avoucheth that, sensible of her fault in dis- 
obeying her husband, it was her own desire and 

h Philip Commineus. [See this History, p. 228.] 

E e 8 



4S0 The Church History book ly. 

A.D. 1431.S0 that at the present are maintained one rectiir, 
^ ^ fourteen feUows, two chaplains, four scholars, which, 

with servants and other commoners, lately made up 

seventy-two. 
BishoD of 48. We must not forget John Williams, bishop 
imikb than of Lincolu^ bred in Cambridge, related only to this 
awjw cha. j^^^j^g^ ^ visitor thereof. Here finding the chapel 

(built by John Forrest, dean of Wells in the reign 
of king Henry the Sixth) old, little, and inconve- 
nient, he erected a far fairer fabric in the room 
thereof. He had a good precedent of a Cambridge 
man's bounty to this house, even Thomas Bother- 
ham, fellow of King's College ^ and master of Pem- 
broke Hall therein, whom bishop Williams suc- 
ceeded, as in the bishopric of Lincoln and the arch- 
bishopric of York, so in his liberality to this foun- 
dation 8. 
A. D. 143a. 44. On the last of August king Henry the Fifth 
and charac- cudod his life, in France ; one of a strong and active 
SrannSe ^^J I neither shrinking in cold nor slothful in heat, 
^^^' going commonly with his head uncovered ; the wear- 
ing of armour was no more cumbersome unto him 
than a cloak. He never shrunk at a wound, nor 



i€ 



' ['*At what time Thomas ^' which he did exhort the 

Rotherham, alias Scot, bishop "bishop in such manner to 

** of Lincohi, visited his diocese^ " good works, and to perfect 

*' he came to Oxford, and, " this his college, whidi then 

among other places therein, " being imperfect both in its 

to this college, where against " edifices and government^ that 

his coming John Tristrope, " when he concluded his ser- 

rector thereof, had provided " mon the bishop stood up and 

" a visitation sermon for him, ** answered the preacher with 

'* taking his text out of the *' great love and affection : 

** ps^mist running thus^ Vide "Jaciurum se quod peiutU.*' 

" et visita vineam luam, et rem Wood, ih. 238.] 

*' perfice quam plantavit dex- ^ [See Wood, ib. 250 ; Grod- 

" tra tua ; in the handling of win de Prsesul. 698, 299.] 






CENT. XV. of Britain, 421 

turned away his nose for ill savour, nor closed his A. d. 149a. 
eyes for smoke or dust ; in diet none less dainty or ' ^^' ^^' 
more moderate ; his sleep very short, but sound ; 
fortunate in fight, and commendable in all his 
actions : verifying the proverb, that an ill youth may 
make a good man. The nunnery of Sion was built 
and endowed by him, and a college was by him 
intended in Oxford, had not death prevented him. 

45. As for Katherine de Valois, daujrhter to Queen 
Charles the Sixth, king of France, widow of king married 
Henry, she was afterward married to, and had issue **^*^* 
by, Owen ap Tudor, a noble Welshman ; and her 
body lies at this day unburied in a loose coffin at 
Westminster, lately shewed to such as desire it, and 
there dependeth a story thereon. 

46. There was an old prophecy among the Eng- B"t never 
lish, (observed by foreigners to be the greatest 
prophecy-mongers ^ and whilst the devil knows their 

diet they shall never want a dish to please the 
palate,) that an English prince, bom at Windsor, 
should be unfortunate in losing what his father had 
acquired ; whereupon king Henry forbade queen 
Katherine (big with child) to be delivered there, 
who out of the corrupt principle, Nitimur in vetitum, 
and affecting her father before her husband, was 
there brought to bed of king Henry the Sixth, in 
whose reign the feir victories woven by his father's 
valour were, by cowardice, carelessness, and conten- 
tions, unravelled to nothing. 

47. Report (the greatest, though not the truest By her own 
author) avoucheth that, sensible of her fault in dis- 
obeying her husband, it was her own desire and 

h Philip Commineus. [See this History, p. 228.] 

E e 8 



4S2 The Church History Bom v. 

^^•^UM. pleasure that her body should never be buried. If 

so, it is pity but that a woman, especially a queen, 

should have her will therein^; whose dust doth 
preach a sermon of duty to feminine, and of mor- 
tality to all beholders. 
AliiaKter. 48. But this story is told otherwise by other 
authors, namely, that she was buried near her hus- 
band king Henry the Fifth, under a feir tomb^, 
where she hath a large epitaph, and continued in 
her grave some years, until king Henry the Seventh, 
laying the foundation of a new chapel, caused her 
corpse to be taken up; but why the said Henry, 
being her great-grandchild, did not order it to be 
re-interred, is not recorded; if done by casualty 
and neglect, very strange, and stranger if out of 
design. 
Thepazw 49* lu the minority of king Henry the Sixth, as 
appo^t ihe^^ imcle, Johu duke of Bedford, managed martial 
^^g^jj^^ matters beyond the seas, so his other uncle, Hum- 
phrey duke of Gloucester, was chosen his protector 
at home, to whom the parliament then sitting ap- 
pointed a select number of priTy councillors, wherein 
only such as were spiritual persons fall under our 
observation. 

i. Henry Chichely, archbishop of Canterbury, 
ii. John Kempe, bishop of London, 
iii. Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, lately 
made lord cardinal. 

iv. John Wakering, bishop of Norwich, privy 
seal. 

i Speed's Chron. p. 661. [Her randa respecting the disinter- 

coffin was still shewn till within ment of this queen.] 

a late period. Sir Henry Ellis, i Stow*s Survey of London, 

of the British Museum, pos- p. 507, [and Chron. 376. Hall's 

sesses some very curious memo- Chron. p. 1 84.] 



• XV. of Britain. 48S 

V, Philip Morgan, bishop of Worcester. f H^ii' vi* 
vi. Nicholas Bubwith, bishop of Bath and Wells, 

lord treasurer. 

So strong a party had the clergy in that age in 

the privy council, that they could carry all matters 

at their Jwn pleasure. 

50. It was ordered in parliament that all Irish- a. 0.1423. 

A strict 

men living in either university should procure theiria^forthe 
testimonials from the lord lieutenant or justice of cCrgy. 
Ireland, as also find sureties for their good beha- 
viour during their remaining therein. They were 
also forbidden to take upon them the principality 
of any hall or house in either university, but that 
they remain under the discipline of others. 

51. Hitherto the corpse of John Wicliflte had a. p. 1428. 
quietly slept in his grave, about one-and-forty years quieUy 
after his death, till his body was reduced to bones, y^^ *' 
and his bones almost to dust ; for though the earth 

in the chancel of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, 
where he was interred, hath not so quick a diges- 
tion with the earth of Aceldama, to consume flesh 
in twenty-four hours, yet such the appetite thereof, 
and all other English graves, [as] to leave small 
reversions of a body after so many years ^. 

52. But now, such the spleen of the council of Oidered to 

be un- 

Constance, as they not only cursed his memory, as graved for 
dying an obstinate heretic, but ordered that his* ^ ^' 
bones (with this charitable caution, if it may be dis- 
cerned from the bodies of other fiEiithful people) to 
be taken out of the ground and thrown far off from 
any Christian burial. 

k [For an account of this of this voracious power of the 
burning of Widiffe's bones, see soil of Aceldama, the Pisgah 
Fox's Martyrol, i. p. 606 ; and Sight, iii. p. 348.] 

E e 4 



4M The Church HUtory b aik n. 

A.D. 1428. 53. In obedience berennto, Richard Flemyi^ 

— 1 bishop of Lincohi, diocesan of Lutterworth, sent 

burnt and his officers (vultures with a quick sight-scent at a 
*™ dead carcass) to ungrave him accordingly ^ To 

Lutterworth they come, (sumner, commissary, offi- 
cial, chancellor, proctors, doctors, and the servants, 
so that the remnant of the body would not hold out 
a bone amongst so many hands,) take what was left 
out of the grave, and burnt them to ashes, and cast 
them into Swift, a neighbouring brook running hard 
by. Thus this brook hath conveyed his ashes into 
Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow 
seas, they into the main ocean ; and thus the ashes 
of Wicliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which 
now is dispersed all the world over. 
None am 54. I kuow not whether the vulgar tradition be 
J'JJJj^"*^ worth remembrance, that the brook into which 
Wicliffe his ashes were poured never since over- 
flowed . the banks. Were this true, (as some deny 
it,) as silly is the inference of papists attributing this 
to Divine Providence, expressing itself pleased with 
such severity on a heretic, as simple the collection 
of some protestants, making it an effect of Wicliflfe 
his sanctity. Such topical accidents are good for 
friend and foe, as they may be bowed to both ; but 
in effect good to neither, seeing no solid judgment 
will build where bare fancy hath laid foimdation. 

1 [In his early years this and, relinquishing Widifie's 
prelate had adopted Wicliffe's doctrines, became as zealous in 
sentiments with so much zeal opposing as once he had been 
that he drew a great party forward in promoting them, 
after him, and would in aU With this view he founded 
probability have proved a dan- Lincoln College, intending it 
gerous opponent ; but upon as a nursery for controversialists 
the persuasion of some leading who might disprove the doc- 
members in the university, he trines of that reformer. See 
was drawn to diiferent thoughts. Wood, ib. 234.] 



CXNT. XV. 



of Britain, 



425 



55. It is of more consequence to observiB theA.D. uas. 
differences betwixt authors, some making the council -; — '• — ■* 
of Constance to pass this sentence of condemnation, betwixt 
as Master Fox doth, inserting (but by mistake) the •'**^"' 
history thereof, in the reign of king Richard the 
Second, which happened many years after ; but 

more truly it is ascribed to the council of Sienna, 
except for sureness both of them joined in the same 
cruel edict ™- 

56. Here I cannot omit what I read in a popish wicUffe 
manuscript ", but very lately printed, about the sub- ^ ' 
ject of our present discourse : 

57. " The first unclean beast that ever passed o the wit ! 
" through Oxen-ford (I mean Wicliffe by name) 

" afterwards chewed the cud, and was sufficiently 
** reconciled to the Roman faith, as appears by his 

recantation, living and dying conformable to the 

holy catholic church." ♦ 

58. It is strange that this popish priest alone' 
should light on his recantation, which I believe no 
other eyes, before or since, did behold ; besides, if 
(as he saith) Wicliffe was sufficiently reconciled to 
the Roman faith, why was not Rome sufficiently 
reconciled to him ? using such cruelty unto him so 
many years after his death. Cold encouragement 
for any to become Romist converts, if, notwith- 



« 



« 



»^ [In this Fuller is mis- 
taken. The decree for ex- 
huming Wicliife's bones was 
passed in the year 1415, in 
the eighth session of the coun- 
cil of Constance. See Hard, 
uin's Concil. viii. p. 302. The 
council of Sienna was held in 
the year 1423, and Richard 
Flemyng, the bishop of Lin- 
coln, was present on the part 



of the church of England ; but 
I can find no mention of any 
such decree in the Acts of this 
council, concerning Wicliffe, as 
is here stated by Fuller. See 
also Lewis's Wicliffe, p. 137.] 
^ Hall, in the Life of Bishop 
Fisher, p. 33, [35 ; since pub- 
lished by Dr. Thomas Bailey 
in his own name, in the year 
1655 ; reprinted in 1739.] 



406 The Church Hutory book it. 

AD. 1 4«8. Standing their reconciliation, the bodies must be 
1±:LIL burnt «, many years after their death. 
A monk't 59. But though Wicliflfe had no tomb^ he had an 
^^^^ epitaph, such as it was, which armonk afforded him; 
and that it was no worse, thank his want, not of 
malice, but inyention, not finding, out worse ex- 
pressions: 

" The devil*s instrument, church's enemy, people's 
" confusion, heretic's idol, hypocrite's mirror, schism's 
" broacher, hatred's sower, lie's foiger, flattery's sink; 
'* who at his death despaired like Cain, and stricken 
" by the horrible judgments of God, breathed fortii 
^* his wicked soul to the dark mansfcm of the black 
« devil o.** 

Surely he with whose name this epitaph beginneth 

and endeth was with the maker clean through the 

contrivance thereof. 

Acondi- 59. Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, car- 

ooondL"^ dinal Sancti Eusebii, but conmionly called cardinal 

of England, was by consent of pariiament made one 

of the king's council, with this condition, that he 

should make a protestation to absent himself from 

the council when any matters were to be treated 

betwixt the king and pope, being jealous belike that 

his papal would prevail over his royal interest p. 

The cardinal took the protestation, and promised to 

- -perform it. 

Privilege of 60. The clergy complained in parliament to the 

tion! king that their servants which came with them to 

convocations were often arrested, to their great 

damage; and they prayed that they might have 

o [Thos. Walsingh. Hist. [I have not been able to verify 
Ang. p. 312.] either the reference or the 

P Ex Archivis tur. London. iAKX,'\ 



.csNT. i^v. of Britain. A^ 

;the:9ame privil^e which the peers and eommons o£a.d. 1436. 
the kingdom have, which are called to parliament, ^ 
which was granted accordingly. 

61. Great at this time was the want of gitimmar Want of 
schools, and the abuse of them that were even in^^b" 
London itself ; for they were no better than mono- ^™pJ*ined 
polies, it being penal for any (to prevent the growth 
of Wicliffism) to put their children to private 
teachers : hence was it that some hundreds were 
coiDipelled to go to the same school, where, to use 
the words of the records, " the masters waxen rich 
" in money, and learners poor in cunning." 

Whereupon this grievance was complained on in 
parliament by four eminent ministers in London, 
viz. 

Mr. William Lichfield, parson of All-hallow's the 
More. 

Mr. Gilbert, parson of St. Andrew's, Holborn. 

Mr. John Cote, parson of St. Peter's, Comhill. 

Mr. John Neele, master of the house of St. Thomas 
Acres, and parson of Colechurch *i. 

To these it was granted, by the advice of the 
ordinary or archbishop of Canterbury, to erect five 
schools (Neele, the last named, having a double 
license for two places) in their respective parishes, 
which are fitly called the five vowels of London, 
which, mute in a manner before, began now to spe^ik 
and pronounce the Latin tongue. Know that the 
house St. Thomas Acres was where Mercers' Chapel 
standeth at this day. y"^ 

About this time the lady Eleanor Cobham, soA.D.1441. 
called from the lord Cobham, her father, (otherwise du^*^ of 



<1 [For an account of the old Chron. 1063 ; and for these in 
schools in London, see Stow's particular, p. loSi.] 



Oloucester 
commended 



1 



4S8 The Church History book n. 

A. D. I44T- Eleanor Plantagenet, by her husband,) was married 

'- — '• unto Humphrey, the kmg's uncle, duke of Gloucee- 

1^ for a ter. She was, it seems, a great savourer and &Your» 
of WiclifTe his opinions, and for such Mr. Fox hath 
ever a good word in store ; insomuch that he maketh 
this lady a confessor, sir Roger Onely, (alias Boling- 
broke,) her chaplain, a martyr, assignmg in his calen- 
dar the eleventh and twelfth of February for the 
days of their commemoration. 
M«dete^ But Alanus Copus (namely, Harpsfield under his 
name) falls foul on Mr. Fox for making sir Roger 
a martyr, who was a traitor, and Eleanor this duchess 
a confessor, who by the consent of our chroniclers, 
Robert Fabian, Edward Hall, &c. was condemned 
(after solemn penance and carrying a taper barefoot 
at Paul's Cross) to perpetual banishment for plotting 
with Onely, his chaplain, an abominable necromancer, 
and three others, by witchcraft to destroy the king, 
so to derive the crown to her husband, as the next 
heir in the line of Lancaster. But Cope-Harpsfield 
pincheth the Fox the hardest for making Margaret 
Jourdeman (the witch of Eye) a martyr, who was 
justly burnt for her witchcraft. Other small errors 
we omit whereof he accuseth him. 
Mr. Fox In answer hereunto, Mr. Fox makes a threefold 
nioo^ow. return, ingeniously confessing part of the charge, 
**'*^* flatly denying part, and fidrly excusing the rest. He 
confesseth, and take it in his own words, that the 
^^ former edition of his Acts and Monuments, was so 
" hastily rashed up at that present in such shortness 
" of time '," (fourteen months, as I remember, too 
small a term for so great a task,) that it betrayed 
him to many mistakes, as when he calleth sir Roger 

' I. p. 920. 









CEKT. XV. of Britain. 4S9 

Onely a knight, who was a priest by his profession, a. 0.1441, 
Adding moreover, that " had he thought no imper-I25^I:]2: 
^ fections had passed his former edition, he would 
•* have taken in hand a second recognition thereof"." 

He flatly denieth that his martyr-making of Mar- uis flat 
garet Jourdeman the witch of Eye. ^ 

" I here (saith he) profess, confess and ascertain, 
both you (Cope-Harpsfield he meaneth) and all Eng- 
lish men, both present, and all posterity hereafter to 
*^ come, that this Margaret Jourdeman I never spake 
" of, never thought of, never dreamed of, nor did ever 
" bear of, before you named her in your book your- 
self. So fer is it off that I, either with my will, 
or against my vrill, made any martyr of her *." 

He excuseth the aforesaid duchess Eleanor, al- His ten 
leging ten conjectures (as he calleth them) in heri^^S^ 
vindication. ^^ 

i. Sir Roger Onely took it upon his death, that he 
and the lady were innocent of those things for which 
they were condemned. 

; ii. It was usual for the clergy in that age to load 
those who were of Wicliffe his persuasion (such this 
duchess) with no less false than foul aspersions. 

iii. Sir Roger Onely wrote two books, mentioned by 
Bale, the one of his own innocency, the other con^ 
tra vtdgi super stitiones. It is not therefore probable 
he should be so silly a necromancer, who had pro- 
fessedly conAited popular superstitions. 

iv. The accusation of this duchess began not imtil 
after the grudges betwixt the duke her husband and 
the cardinal of Winchester '*, about the year 1440. 

y. It is not probable if the duchess intended such 

s Ibid. i. 920. u I see not how this is much 

' As in bis Cent. VIII. §. 4. material in her defence. 



400 The Church Hisiorg bookit. 

A.D. 1441- treason against the king^s life, as to conaome him bj 

a wax candle, that she wonld impart a plot 



of snch priyacj to foor persons, ynz. sir Roger, Mar- 
garet Jonrdeman, Mr. Thomas Sonthwell, and John 
Hnme, seeing five may keep counsel, if foor be 
awaj. 

▼L So heinous a treason against the king^s person, 
if plainly proved, would have been more severely 
punished, with death no doubt of all privy there- 
unto. Whereas this lady escaped with exile^ and 
John Hume had his life pardoned, which being so 
foul a fact would not have been forgiven if clearly 
testified against him. 

vii. She is accused in our chronicles, (Harding, 
Polychronicon, &c.) for working sorcery and enchant- 
ments against the church and the king. Now how 
can enchantments be made against the church which 
is a collective body, consisting of a multitude of 
Christians ? And reader, in my weak opinion, this 
conjecture carrieth some weight with it. Balaam 
himself can tell us, There is no sorcery against Jacobs 
nor soothsaying against Israel^. If any interpret, 
against the churchy that is, the laws and canons of 
the church, the sense is harsh and unusual. This 
rendereth it suspicious that her enchantments against 
the church, was only her disliking and distasting the 
errors and superstitions thereof. 

viii. This witch of Eye, saith Fabian, lived near 
Winchester, a presumption, as Mr. Fox conjectureth, 
that the cardinal of Winchester had a hand in pack- 
ing this accusation. 

ix. Polydore Virgil maketh no mention thereof, 

^ Num. xxiii, 23. 



CENT. XV, of Britain. 481 

otherwise sufficiently quicksighted in matters of this a. d. 1441. 

, 10 Hen. VI. 

nature. J. 

X. Why may not this he false, as well as that 
king Richard the Third his accusing of Jane Shore 
for hewitching of his withered arm. 

These conjectures are not substantial enough 
severally to subsist of themselves, yet may they be 
able to stand in complication (in the whole sheaf, 
though not as single arrows) and conduce not a little 
towards the dealing of her innocence. 

For my own part, it is past my skill to scour out a moderate 
stams, inlaid in the memory of one deceased more^*^' 
than two hundred years ago. I see her credit stands 
condenmed by the generality of writers ; and as it is 
above the power of the present age to pardon it, so 
it is against all pity, cruelly to execute the same, 
some afteivevidences appearing with glimmering light 
m her vmdication. L^her memoiy therefore be 
reprieved till the day of judgment, when it is pos- 
sible that this lady, bearing here the indignation of 
God for her sins^ may in due time have her catise 
pleaded andjvdgmerU ewecutedfor her^ and her rights 
eousness be brought into light ^. Sure I am she &red 
no whit the better, for her surname of Cobham, odious 
to the clergy of that age on the account of sir John 
Oldcastle lord Cobham, though these two were 
nothing of kin. The best is she left no issue to be 
ashamed of her faults, if she were guilty, the best 
evidences of whose innocence are in the manuscript 
books of John Leland, which as yet I have not had 
the happiness to behold \ 

^ Micah vii. 9. do well to peruse Stow's ho- ; 

X [If the reader feel any in. nest and simple account of it. 
terest in this subject, he will Chron. p. 381.] 



4SS The Church HUtory book it. 

A.D. 1441. At this time William Heiworth sat bishop of Coven- 

-^ '• try and Lichfield, being translated thither from being 

est biibop abbot of St. Alban's. Wonder not that he should 
Jjj^ti^ leave the richest abbey of England, where he took 
■'*°'- place of all of his order, and exchange it for a middle- 
sized bishopric. For first, even those who most ad- 
mire the holiness and perfection of monastical life, do 
grant the episcopal function above it in all spiritual 
respects. Secondly, in temporal considerations die 
poorest bishop was better, and might be more bene- 
ficial to his kindred, than the richest abbot, seeing 
he by will might bequeath his estate to his heirs, 
which no abbot, incapable in his own person of any 
propriety) could legally do, whose goods belonged to 
his convent in common ^. 
lidifieM's This bishoD Heiworth deserved not ill of his 

oathednJ. 

cathedral church of Lichfield. Indeed the body of 
the church was built by Roger de Clinton bishop 
thereof, in the reign of king Henry the First, who 
increased the number of the prebends, and sur- 
rounded Lichfield with a ditch, bestowing much 
cost on the invisible castle, which now is vanished 
out of sight *. Afterwards Walter de Langton his 
successor ia the reign of king Edward the First, was 
a most munificent benefactor thereunto, laying the 
foundation of the chapel of the Virgin Mary, and 
(though dying before it was finished) bequeathing a 
sufficient sum of money for the finishing thereof. 
He also fenced the close of the church about with a 
high wall and deep ditch, adorning it with two beau- 
tiful gates, the fairer on the west, the lesser on the 

y [Promoted to this see in "^\^larton's Angl. Sac. I. 452.] 
1420 ; died in 1447. See God- « [See Wharton's Angl. Sac. 
win de Prsesul. Anglise, p. 322. I. 434 and 441.] 



CBHT. XV. 



of Britain. 



433 



south side thereof- He expended no less than *wo a.d^4^3. 

thousand pound in beautifying the shrine of St. Chad 

his predecessor '. 

65. But now in the time of the aforesaid William The neat- 
Hejworthy the cathedral of Lichfield was in the England. 
vertical height thereof, being, though not augmented 

in the essentials, beautified in the ornamentals 
thereof Indeed the west front thereof is a stately 
fistbric, adorned with exquisite imagery, which I sus- 
pect our age is so far frx>m being able to imitate the 
workmanship, that it understandeth not the history 
thereof*. 

66. Surely what Charles the Fifth is said to have g^^ *^e 
said of the city of Florence, that it is pity it should Florence. 
be seen save only on holy-days ; as also that it was 

fit that so fair a city should have a case and cover 
for it to keep it from wind and weather; so, in 
some sort, this fabric may seem to deserve a shelter 
to secure it. 

67. But alas, it is now in a pitiful case indeed, An inge- 
almost beaten down to the ground in our civil dis- sign. 
sensions. Now lest the church should follow the 
castle, I mean, quite vanish out of view, I have at 

the cost of my worthy friend here exemplified the 
portraiture thereof; and am glad to hear it to be 
the design of ingenious persons to preserve ancient 
churches in the like nature, (whereof many are done 



z [And left to the church at 
his death 904 marks. Whar- 
ton, ii. 447.] 

ft [Besides his benefactions 
to Lichfield, he left to the 
abbey of Burton in Stafford- 
shire 40/. for building the 
cloister, 20/. for copes ; two 
silver salvers, two candelabra, 

FULLER, VOL. II. 



a silver thuribulum ; and forty 
marks for building two tene* 
ments in the town. Mon. 
Anglic, i. 275. He died March 
13, 1446. See also other in- 
stances of his benefactions in 
the new edition of the Monas- 
ticon, vol. vi. p. 637.] 

Ff 



4M 



Tke ChtiTch HUtory 



- 3o6x IV. 



A.D.i4ju-iii this, and more expected in the next part of 
ILf^lli Monasticon,) seeing ^rhen their substance is gone^ 
their Teiy shadows will be acceptable to posterity^ 
Agriemice 68* The commons in parliament complained to 
^P ^* ™^ the king, that whereas they had sold great wood of 
twenty years' growth and upwards, to their own 
great profit, and in aid to the king in his wars and 
shipping, the parsons and vicars impleaded such mer- 
chants as bought this timber, for the tithes thereof, 
whereby their estates were much damnified, the 
king and kingdom disserved, 
whfagmt 69- They also complained, that when such mer- 
chants troubled in the courts Christian addressed 
themselves for remedy to the chancery, and moved 



^ [This cathedral^ which had 
been reduced to ruins by the 
parliamentary party in the civil 
wars, was restored by the good 
bishop Hacket. Before the 
wars, it had been a most beau- 
tiful structure^ which the 
bishop, at his promotion to this 
see, found in a melancholy 
state of desolation, rased al- 
most to the ground. The stone 
roof, the timber, the lead and 
iron, glass, stalls, organs, the 
rich and holy vessels all em- 
bezzled by wicked and sacri- 
legious hands. The barbarians 
had discharged 2000 shot of 
great ordinance, 1500 grenades 
against this beautiful fabric 
and quite battered down the 
spire : " So that the old man^' 
says Dr. Plume^ •* took not so 
*• much comfort in his new 
promotion, as he found sor- 
row and pity in himself to 
*' see his cathedral church thus 
'* lying in the dust ; so that 



<( 



fC 



•' the very next morning after 
'^ his lordship's arrival he set his 
**own coach-horses on work, 
** together with other teems to 
•* carry away the rubbish ; 
'* which being cleared he pro- 
'* cured artisans of all sorts to 
" begin this new pile, and be- 
" fore his death set up a com- 
*' plete church again better 
•' than ever it was before ; the 
•' whole roof, from one end to 
" the other of a vast length, 
^* all repaired with stone, all 
*' laid with goodly timber of our 
" royal sovereign's gift, all lead- 
<* ed from one end to the other, 
" to the cost of above 20,000/., 
which yet this zealous and 
laborious bishop accomplish- 
ed, a great part out of his 
own bounty, with 1000/. 
'' help of the dean and chap- 
" ter." Life of Hacket, p. xxxi. 
prefixed to his Century of Ser- 
mons. Oh si sic omnes r^s et 
prselati !] 



«c 



(( 



« 



<€ 



csNT. XV. of Britain. 486 

therein for a prohibition, which in such cases is to a. d. 143. v 
be granted unto them, by virtue of a statute made ' ' ^'^' ' 
in the forty-fifth year of king Edward the Third, yet 
such a writ of prohibition and attachment, was 
against all law and right denied them. Wherefore 
they humbly desired the king to ordain by authority 
of the present parliament, that such who shall find 
themselves grieved may hereafter have such writs of 
prohibition, and upon that attachments as well in 
the chancery as in the king's and common bench at 
their choice. And that the said writs of prohibition 
and attachment, issuing out of the said benches, have 
the said force and effects as the original writs of 
prohibition and attachment, so issuing out of the 
chancery of our lord the king ^. 

70. To this it was returned, "the king will be Yet not 
•* advised," the civilest expression of a denial. How- ^^^ 
ever, we may observe, that for a ftiU hundred years 
(viz. from the middle of king Edward the Third, to 

and after this time) no one parliament passed where- 
in this grievance was not complained on. So that 
an acorn might become an oak, and good timber in 
the term, wherein this molestation for the tithes of 
wood, under the pretence of silva cedud, did con- 
tinue. But it seems it was well ordered at last, 
finding future parliaments not complaining thereof. 

71. At this time William Lyndewode finished hiswiiiiam 
industrious and useftil work of his Constitutions. ^JJ^^'-g 
He was bred in Cambridge, first scholar of Gonvile, Constitu- 

o tions set 

then fellow of Pembroke hall. His younger years forth. 
he spent in the study of the laws, whereby he gained 
much wealth and more reputation. Afterwards, 

'^ Ex Archivis in Tur. Londin. undecimo Hen, sexti. 

Ff 2 



4S6 The Church Histary book nr. 

^^^•JJ^ 4^ J- quitting his practice, he betook himself to the court, 

and became keeper of the privy seal unto king 

Henry the Fifth, who employed him on a long and 
important embassy into Spain and Portugal**. 
First cm. 72. Lyndowodc being no less skilful in civil than 
Kwwidor" canon law, performed the place vrfth such exemplary 
tu^!**^" industry and judgment, that had not the king's sud- 
den death prevented it, he had been highly advanced 
in the commonwealth. Afterwards he reassumed 
his official's place of Canterbury, and then at spare 
hours collected and digested the Constitutions of the 
fourteen latter archbishops of Canterbury, from 
Stephen Langton to Henry Chichele, unto whom 
he dedicated the work, submitting the censure 
thereof to the church. 
His work 78. A worthy work, highly esteemed by foreign 
prized Ij6^ lawycrs ; not so particularly provincial for England 
yondsea. y^^^ ^^^ ^y^Qy are usoful for Other countries, his 

comment thereon being a magazine of the canon 
law. It was printed at Paris, 1505, (but at the cost 
and charges of William Bretton, an honest merchant 
of London,) revised by the care of Wolfgangus Hip- 
polius, and prefaced unto by Jodocus Badius. This 
Lyndewode was afterward made bishop of St. Davids, 
whose works (though now beheld by some as an 
almanac out of date) will be valued by the judicious 
whilst learning and civility have a being *. 

^ [Parker's Antiq. p. 425-6. ford, migrating tbither probably 

He was afterwards sent on a as tbe canon law was more stu- 

mission into France. See a died in Oxford at that time. He 

privy seal granted to him for was rector of Walton in Leices- 

transporting money and metal, tershire which he resigned in 

dated June 22, 1435 > in 1410; then canon of Sahs- 

Rymer's Foedera, X. 614.] bury; bishop of St. David's in 

e [Lyndewode^ though fellow 1442; died in 1446, and 

of Pembroke hall in Cambridge, was buried at Westminster, 

had his doctor's degree in Ox- See Godwin, p. 583.] 



SECT. IV. 



TO 



MR. THOMAS RICH^ 

LATE OF LONDON, ESQ. 

Chrent is the praise St, Paul^ gives to Gaius^ styling him his 
host, and of the whole church. Surely the chwrch then, "tras 
very little, or Gaius his hotm very large. Now hosts com- 
monly are corpulent persons, but Gaius not so, it being more 
than suspicious that he was afflicted with a faint and feMe 
body, as may be collected from the words of St, John, I wish 
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy 
soul prospereth c. 

You are, sir, the entertainer general of good m>en ; m^any a poor 
minister will never be wholly sequestered, whilst you are 
living, whose charity is like to the toind, which cannot be 
seen bvit may be felt : and Cfod hath dealt with you more 



& [I have been able to dis- 
cover no trace of this gene- 
rous individual. A reference 
to one of the same name (to 
me it seems to be charac- 
teristic of this person) oc- 
curs in Malcolm's Londinium 
Redivivum, 1. 63, where, among 
the donations to the church of 
St. Mary at Axe, this entry 
is found: *' 1673, One book 
*' of sir Walter Rauley's His- 
•* tory of the World ; and 
" one other book, bishop An- 



'• drews his Sermons, being the 
"gift of Mr. Thomas Rich." 
There is also in the same 
volume p. 69, a notice of a gift 
of sir Thomas Rich of 400/. 
for morning and evening 

?rayers daily in St. Andrews, 
Tndershaft. The coat of arms 
assigned to him is that of his 
relation taken from the old 
plate of the arms of the abbeys.] 
^ Rom. xvi. 23. 
c 3 John 2. 

F fS 



kS8 The Church tfutory book it. 

UrniOifySy them vntK Gaiw, blminff youvtaU dmmtiotu 
of $oul, body, and ettate ; and my prayers shaU never be 
leaning for the continuance and mereaae thereof. 

piHIS year begao the smart and active 
luacil of Basil, to which onr amhas- 
Hftdnrs were to represent both their 
ivereign and the English nation; 
wliore they were received with honour 
and respect, the reputation of king Henry his holi- 
ness adding much to their credit; foreigners there 
being very inquisitive of them, to be satisfied in the 
particulars of his devotion, which by them was repre- 
sented much to their master's advantage. But it is 
worth our pains to peruse the commission they car- 
ried vrith them. 




Rex omnibus ad quos &c. 
■alutem ^. Sciatis quod, 
cum juxta decreta CoDstan- 
tiensis concilii.pricgeiia con- 
cilium Basileense actualiter. 
c«1ebretur sub eanctissimo 
patre domino Eugenio papa 
quarto: Nos eidem con- 
cilio, nedum ex parte ejus. 
dem Goncilii per suos ora- 
tores nobis ex hoc causa 



" The king to all whom &c. 
" greeting. Know that acccnrding 
" to the decrees of the [late] council 
" of Constance, the present couu- 
" cil of Basil is actually cele. 
" brated under the most hol^ 
" father, lord Eugenius the fourth 
"pope: We being often insti- 
" gated to be present at the same 
" council, not only on the behalf 



d [Collated with the original. 
Rot. Pat. 13 Hen. VI. p. i, 
m. 2. Another copy of this 
commission is in the Patent 
Rolls, 1 2 Hen. VI. p. i. m. 6. 
(printed by Rymer, Foedera 
X. j88,) whidj omits some 
of the names given by Fuller, 
and rather agrees ivith that 

Sinted in the prefece to 
rowne's Fasciculus. See again 



also, Feed. X. 595, 603. The 
permisuons to be present at 
the council were very numerous; 
and several are printed in the 
Fmdera, X. 570, sq. The 
names between brackets are 
not in the first commission.] 
The Latin running on all in 
one continued sentence, we 
are fain to divide it into many, 
for the more clearness. 



C^KT. XV. 



of Britain* 



4S9 



spedaliter destinatos^ ve- 
rum etiam apostolids et 
imperialibusy ac aliorum 
quamplurium sanctse matris 

ecdesifle patmm, et princi- 
pum secularinm. Uteris cre- 
berrime instigati, ad Dei 
laudem, sanctse matris ec- 
desifle prosperitatem opta- 
tam et honorem^ et prae- 
sertim ob fidei catholicse 
exaltationem, interesse cu- 
pieutes; variis et diversis 
caosis rationabiliter prspe- 
diti^ quo minus personaliter 
eidem interesse poterimus^ 
ut vellemus ; venerabiles in 
Christo patres, Robertum 
Londoniensem ^, [Philippum 
Lexoviensem,] Johannem 
Roffensem^^ [Johannem Ba- 
jocensem] et Bernardum 
Aquensem S episcopos, ac 
carissimum consanguineum 
nostrum^ JBdmundum Co. 



«« 
« 

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<c 
(( 

IS 
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ic 
<* 
«< 
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<( 
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^ [See his letters of safe- 
conduct &c. in the Fcfidera, X. 

577. 582, 608.] 

^ [See the Fcsdera, X. 570.] 
g [See the Foedera, X. 570. 
Dr. Heylyn in " The Appeal" 
&c. 1. ii. p. 47=445. (new 
edition) after observing that 
the English never had any 
power in Provence, says, '* Ber- 
" nard, whom the Latin calls 
** £piscopus Aquensis, is very 
'* ill taken by our author to be 
'^ bishop of Aix, He was in- 
" deed bishop of Acque or Aux 
" in Guienne, called anciently 
*' Aquse Augustse, from whence 



of the same council, by their A. D. 14)3, 

12 Hen. VI, 
orators^ especially despatched 

to us for that purpose^ but also 
by the letters apostolical and 
imperial, and the letters of very 
many other fathers of the holy 
mother church, and of secular 
princes: And we desiring to 
be present thereat, to the praise 
of God, prosperity of the holy 
mother church, and her desired 
honour, and cliiefly for the ex- 
altation of the catholic faith; 
being on just reason hindered 
with many and several occa- 
sions, cannot^ as we would, be 
personally present thereat : 
Wherefore by these presents 
we constitute, make, and de- 
pute, the venerable fathers, 
Robert bishop of London, [Phi** 
lip bishop of Lisieux,] John 

** those parts of France had the 
** name of Aquitain ; and not 
** of Aix, which the ancient 
*' writers called Aquae Sexti», 
** in the country of Provence, 
•* NowGuiennewas at that time 
*^ in the power of the kings of 
*' England, which was the rea. 
'^ son why this Bernard was 
*' sent with the rest of the 
** commissioners to the council 
<* of Basil ; and being there. 
*^ amongst the rest, maintained 
the rights and preeminences 
of the English kings/'] 
^ [See the Fcedera, X. 570. 
S78.] 

Ff 4 



fi 



« 



440 



The Church Mstary 



BOOK n. 



A.D. 1434. mHem Moritonii*, dikcUM 
n Hen. VI. nobit in Chritto Nieholamn 
abbatem Olastonientem* 
Willehnum abbatem ec- 
desis beats Maris Ebo^ 
mm^, WiUebnum priorem 
Norwicenaem, nee non di- 
lectoe et fideles noatroal^ 
Henricom Brooneflete mu 
litem, magiatram Thomam 
Broune ^ utriusque juris 
doctorem^ Sarum decanum, 
et Jobannem Colville mili- 
tem'', [magistnim Petnim 
AIaaricii<> doctorem in tbeo- 
logia, et magistnim Nicho- 
laum David arehidiaconam 
Constantiensem et Licen- 
tiatum in utroqne jure,] 
nostros ambassiatores, ora- 
tores, veros et indubitatos 
procuratores, actores, fac- 
tores, et nuncios spedales 
constituimusy facimus et de- 
putamus, per praesentes 
dantes et damns eis et ip- 
sorum majori parti potes- 
tatem et mandatum tam 
generale quam speciale no- 
mine nostro et pro nobis 
in eodem concilio interes- 
sendi, tractandi, communi. 
candi et ooncludendi tam de 
hiis quae fidei ortbodoxae 



€4 



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bishop ci Rochesftef, [John 
bishop of Beieiix] and Bernard 
bishop of Aix, and our most dear 
** cousin Edmund earl of Mor- 
** ton, our beloved Nicolas abbot 
'' of Olaston, William abbot of St. 
'* Mary's in York, and William 
** prior of Norwidi, and our be- 
" loved and trustj Henry Broum. 
*' flete, knight, Mr. Thomas 
*' Brown, doctor of laws, dean of 
*' Sarum, John Colnille, knight, 
" Mr. Peter FiUuMaurice, D. D. 
" and Mr. Nicholas David arch- 
'* deacon of Constance, and licen* 
" tiate in both laws, our ambas- 
" sadors^ orators, true and un- 
'* doubted proctors* actors, factors, 
and special messengers ; Giving, 
and we give to them, and the 
" greater part of them, power 
" and command, as well general 
" as special, in our name, and for 
"us, to be present in the same 
** council, to treat, debate and 
" conclude, as well of these things 
" which may concern the support 
" of the orthodox faith, the paci- 
** fication of kings and princes, as 



•t 



<« 



» [See the Fofedera, X. 577, 
587. Mortaigne of South wark 
in com. Surrey. Foed. X. 578.] 

^ [See the Foedera, X. 586, 
603.] 

^ [See the letters of safe- 
conduct granted him, in the 



Foedera, X. 576.] 

"a [Seethe Foedera, X. 577.] 
° [See his letters of safe 

conduct in the Foedera, X. 

578.] 

o Or Maurison. 



c£iiT. xy. 



of Britain, 



441 



fiddineMtiiiii» regoinq«e ac 
piiBCipwn pacificationem 
concemere potenint» nee 
non de et super pace per^' 
petua guerrarumve absti- 
nentia inter nos et Carolum 
adversarinm nostrom de 
FVancia^ ac etiam tractandi, 
communicandi et appunc- 
tuandiy consentiendi insu- 
per, et si opus fuerit dis- 
seatiendi hiis, quse jnzta 
deliberationem dicti coodlii 
inibi statni ac ordinari con- 
tigerit. Promittentes et 
promittimus bona fide nos 
ratum, gratum et firmnm 
perpetuo babitomm P to- 
tnm, et quicquid per dictos 
ambassiatores, oratores, et 
procuratores nostros aut 
majorem partem eorundem, 
actum, foctum, seu gestum 
faerit in pramissis, et in 
singulis praemissorum, et 
hoc idem cum de et super 
hiis certiorati fuerimus 
quantum ad nos et Chris- 
tianum principem attinet, 
executioni debitse curabi- 
mus demandare. In cujus 
rei testimonium has litems 
nostras fieri fecimus pa- 
tentes. 

Dat. sub Magni Sigilli no- 

stri testimonio in palatio 

nostro West. lodie Julii. 

Per Concilium. 



** also upooi either a perpBtualA.D. 1434. 

*' peace, or else a oessatmn from 

" war, betwixt us and Charles of 
"TVanoe our adversary. £xn- 
" powering them also to treat, 
** commune, and appoint, more- 
*' over to consent, and if need be, 
" dissent, in those things which 
" shall ha{^)en there to be esta- 
" blished and ordained, according 
" to the deliberations of the afore- 
" said council. Promising, and 
" we do promise, on good faith, 
" that whatsoever shall be acted^ 
" done, or managed^ in the pre- 
mises, and every one of them 
by our aforesaid ambassadors, 
orators, and proctors, or the 
" greater part of them, we shall 
*' have and account for ratified, 
" welcome, and firm for ever. 
" And when we shall be certified 
'* of and upon the same, we shall 
'* care to command the due exe- 
'* cution, so far as appertaineth 
" to us, and a Christian prince. 
" In witness whereof, we have 
** made these our letters patent. 

''Given under our great seal, 
being our witness, in our 
palace at Westminster, 
" July 10." 



« 



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P Habiturum in MS. 



44ii The Church History book iv. 

A.D. 1434* So eminent an instrument of so great importance 
i!^!!!:^mn8t not pass without some of our obserrations 

thereupon. 
Why the 2. The council of Basil is said to be assembled ac- 
dSnes gene- cording to the docreos of the late council of Con- 
H!^^!^^ stance, wherein it was constituted, that within so 

in our age* ' ' 

many years a general council should be called. For 
seeing the church was subject to contract rust in 
doctrine and manners, frequency of councils was 
conceived the best way to scour the same. But the 
pope lately hath willingly forgotten this canon, no 
general council being called since that of Trent, 
wherein all the power and profit of the pope was 
secured under the notion of articles of the faith; 
since which time his holiness thought it not safe to 
tamper with a new coimcil, as which might impair, 
but could not improve his condition. 
England 3. See WO here fourteen ambassadors sent to BasO, 
foUJ'^ht bishops five, earl one, (not that he was to vote in 
b^oM^to *^® council, but only behold the transactions thereof,) 
a general abbots two, prfor ouc, knights two, doctor in divinity 
one, doctors of law two, all interests being in them 
represented; when therefore we read in Roger 
Hoveden and others*" , ad genercde concilium domini 
pap{B, quattior episcopi de Anglia tantum JRomam 
mittendi sunU " only four English bishops are to be 
" sent to Rome to a general council of the pope," 
understand it that such a number is suflficient. 
England needed to send but so many, though, if 
pleased, might send more, confined by no other 
command save the king's free discretion. And see- 
ing Basil was little above the half way to Rome, the 

r Simeon Dunelmen. ( ?) 



cfiHT. XV. of Britain. 448 

journey being shorter, the more messengers were a. d. 1434. 

1 J 13 Hen. VI. 

employed. 

4. The three French bishops sent by the kingEi^iish 
speak the great command, which king Henry as yet Sl^i^S. 
had in France, especially, if as I take it, by Aquensis 

Aix be mentioned, sited in the furthermost parts of 
Provence, though even now the English power in 
France was a wanjng. 

5. John, bishop of Rochester, here mentioned, Langdon 
was John Langdon, intruded by the pope into that bishop of 
bishopric, to the apparent prejudice of the arch- *^^^*^*^®**®^* 
bishop of Canterbury. For the bishop of Rochester 

was accounted Canterbury's chaplain, to whom he 
owed his spirituals and temporals as his patron and 
founder; though now the pope, contrary to the 
archbishop's will and right forced this Langdon into 
the place*. But indeed he was a learned man* 
(dying this year in his embassy at Basil) and de- 
served far better preferment than the poor bishopric 
of Rochester. But yet, as some observe of tailors, 
that they make the largest garments when they have 
the least cloth allowed them ; so the poor bishopric 
of Rochester hath fared better than many richer 
sees, seeing sacrilege would never feed on so bare a 
pasture. 

6. Observe the method in the nomination of these Precedents 
commissioners, wherein no wonder if the bishops ^enJ!!f^' 
precede so great an earl ; was it not fit that reverend 
fathers should be placed before a dear cousin ? Be- 

B [In 1422, See Godwin de perhaps now exists in MS.> 

Prsesul. Angl. 534.] although Thomas Rudborne, 

*['• Summa eruditionis laude who wrote the Annates Ec- 

** enituit:" Wharton*s Angl. clesia Wintoniensis (published 

Sac. i. 380. Nothing from his in Wharton, ib. p. 287.), refers 

pen has been published, little to the writings of this bishop.] 



444 The Church History BeoK iv. 

A. IX 1434. aidefl, the employm^it being of church concernment, 
' spiritual persons carried it clear in the race of dig- 
nity. More strange it is to find herein a knight, 
Heniy Bronmflete, put before a doctor of both laws, 
and yet John ColyiUe, another knight, placed after 
the same doctor. I confess the contest very anci^it 
about priority betwixt a knight and a doctor of law, 
ever since the comparison which Tully made be- 
twixt Lucius Murena, a knight of Rome, and Publius 
SulpitiuB a lawyer, either of them standing for the 
consulship °. Though now in England the prece- 
dency of the knight be indubitable, since preferment 
is taken from civil law, and the professors thereof 
shut up, as it were, in a narrow comer of their own 
fiu^ulty. But we leave the critical decision thereof, 
to his pen who hath wrote a just tract of the glory 
(in truth of the vanity) of this worlds and exactly 
stated this particular with all the circumstances 
thereof. 
A diarit. 7« Whereas the king empowereth those his com- 
^^^L ^ niissioners to meddle in the point of his right of the 
offer. realm of France, with king Charles his competitor, 
submitting his title to be discussed in the council, 
it carrieth with it a confidence of his own right, and 
charitable desire to save the eflRision of Christian 
blood; but this was not council but camp-work; 
and we meet not with the mention hereof once 
touched on in this great assembly. However, so 
wary was king Henry, (or rather his council,) as not 
absolutely to tie up his title to the decision of this 
council, but to give his commissioners a negative 
voice in case they see cause to dissent. 

^ In Orat. pro Murena. 

^ Chassanseus de gloria mundi. [part ix. p. 326. ed. 1617.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain. 445 

8. The TOneral history of the church reporteth the a.d. 1434- 

11 Hon Vf 

acts of this council, how they deposed pope Euge '- — ' 

nius and substituted Felix in his room ; for which, betwixt the 
and other decisions therein, Rome beholds thiSa^casti- 
council but with bad eyes unto this day. We will"^^^"* 
only meddle with a difference therein which con- 
cerned our own nation. The orators of several kings 
began to take their places, according to their birth- 
rights; dating their age from their nation's first re- 
ceiving of Christianity. Here arose the controversy 
of course about precedency, betwixt the English 
and Castile ambassadors; the former alleging Bri- 
tain's conversion by Joseph of Arimathea; which 
Alphonsus Garcias de Sancta Maria, dean of Com- 
postella and Segovia, doctor of law, and ambassador 
for Castile, with a speech more tedious than his 
name and titles, much endeavoured to disprove; 
and his arguments may be reduced to these four 
heads ^. 

i. First, he denied Joseph's arrival in Britain, and 
imposed the proof thereof on the English who af- 
firmed it, challenging them to produce any authentic 
record for the same. 

ii. Secondly, he urged probability to the contrary, 
out of the Golden Legends, or Flores Sanctorum ^ 
where it is reported, how Titus, taking Jerusalem, 
caused a thick wall to be digged through, and there- 
in found an aged man, who confessed himself to be 
Joseph of Arimathea, there imprisoned by the Jews 
for burying of Christ ; and that ever since he had 

^ Ex Schedis Cottonianis. formation.] 
[Printed in Usher's Antiq. * [" Sub Legenda Jacobi 

Eccl. Britannic®, p. 13, from Minoris." Usher, ib. 13.] 
whom Fuller obtained his in- 



446 



7%e Church History 



BOOK IV 



A.D. 1434- been fed with meat from heaven*. Hence he in^ 

'- ferred, that if Joseph were in durance all this while 

in the wall, he could not, as the Knglish pretended, 
come over into Britain to plant the gospel. 

iii. Thirdly, grant that Joseph, after his enlarge* 
ment by Titus, preached in Britain, which must 
needs be after the year of our Lord seventy and 
two, Spain long before had received the gospel by 
the preaching of James the apostle. 

iv. Fourthly, be it granted that Joseph did preach 
in England, it was but in a comer thereof, the grand 
body of Britain remaining pagan many hundred years 
after. 

These arguments he uttered with such an affected 
gravity, as if he could have made the matter the 
more by pronouncing the words the longer. 

9. The EngUsh easily answered these exceptions, 
proving James to be slaughtered at Jerusalem by 
Herod y before his pretended preaching in Spain » 
seeing their own coimtryman and an archbishop of 
Toledo confesseth as much '. They produced many 
ancient testimonies for the preaching of Joseph in 
Britain, the fond feble of his being kept in a wall 
being beneath confutation, as attested only by a 
worthless author, Joannes de Voragine*. Their 



The Eng- 
lish their 
answer. 



X [This is exceedingly plea- 
sant, to set up one man of 
straw to knock down another ; 
the credit of the Golden Le- 
gends against Capgrave's Le- 
genda Sanctorum and the Glas- 
tonbury Chronicle. Usher ob- 
serves on Garcias' speech 
quaintly enough ; " In quibus 
*^ quaedam sunt levia admodum, 
'• nonnulla etiam oppido ridi- 
" cula."] 



y Actsxii. 2. 

^ Rodericus Ximenius in 
concertatione de primatu cum 
praesule Compostellano in 
Concil. Lateran^ anno 1215. 
[Printed in Usher, ib. p. 14. 
See also Harduin's Concil. vii. 

79-] 

a QUpon this passage Dr. 

Heylyn remarks, in " The Ap- 
peal, &c." lib. ii. p. 47, "In 
** agitating of this controversy 



CEVT, XV. 



of Britain. 



447 



allegation that Britain was but partially converted a.d. 1434. 

by his preaching was but impertinent to the present '• — -' 

purpose, the point controverted not being of the 
universality but the antiquity of first receiving the 
Christian faith. Besides, neither James nor any 
other disciple ever converted a kingdom totally and 
entirely to Christianity. However, nothing was con- 
cluded in this controversy, always agitated, never 
decided, 

i. In the council of Pisa, anno 1409. 



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as it stands in our author, I 
find mention of one ' Johan- 
nes de Voragine, a worthless 
author/ &c. Mistook both in 
the name of the man and his 
quality also ; for, first, the 
author of the book called 
' Legenda Aurea,' related to 
in the former passage, was 
not Johannes but Jacobus de 
Voragine ; in which book 
though there are many idle 
and unwarrantable fictions, 
yet, secondly, was the man of 
more esteem than to pass 
under the character of a 
' worthless author/ as being 
learned for the times in 
which he lived, archbishop 
of Genoa, a chief city of 
Italy, * et moribus et digni- 
tate magno pretio,' as Phi- 
lippus Bergomensis telleth 
us of him, anno 1290, at 
what time he lived; most 
eminent for his translation 
of the Bible into the Italian 
tongue, as we read in Vos- 
sius De Lat. Hist., [ii. 6.] a 
work of both great difficulty 
and danger as the times then 
were; sufficient, were there 



« 



« 



** nothing else, to free him 
" from the ignominious name 
'' of ' a worthless author.' " To 
this Fuller replies, *'I here 
** enter my public thanks to 
" the animadvertor : Jacobus 
" de Voragine (so it seems was 
** his name) was a better au- 
*' thor than I took him for -, 
** indeed, having read that 
" Melchior Canus called the 
author of some legends a 
man 'ferrei oris et plumbei 
'* cordis,' (one of an iron face 
" and leaden heart,) I con- 
" ceived him intended therein. 
** But if he did translate the 
" Bible into Italian, as I have 
•' cause to believe, knowing 
'' nothing to the contrary* it 
** was, as the animadvertor 
•* saith well, ' a work of great 
•' both difficulty and danger, as 
** the times then were.* I con- 
*' fess I have formerly, in the 
table of my esteem, placed 
this Voragine as the very lag 
** at the lowest end thereof; 
** but hereafter I shall say to 
" him, * Come up hither/ and 
*' provide a higher place for 
•• him in my reputation."] 



<c 



« 



448 



The Church History 



. BOOK IV. 



A. D. 1434- ii. In the council of Constance, 1417» betim;t the 
!1^!!:^- ambassadors of Enghmd and France ^ 

ill. In the council of Sienna» [1424,] before Mar- 
tin the Fifth, pope ; wherein Bichajrd Flemyng, 
bishop of Lincoln, encountered France^ Spain, and 
Scotland about precedency. 

Lastly, betwixt England and Spain, in the council 
of Basil, [1434,] though therein nothing ccmduded, 
those politic prelates accounting it better to keep 
both princes in hope by discussing than to put one 
into anger by deciding it. Yea, they loved to set 
up this controversy (as that of the precedence of 
Cambridge and Oxford in English parliaments) out 
of design, sometimes to delay time ; sometimes, by 
starting it, to stop and divert more dangerous dis- 
putes. 
Ajix 1437. 10. Henry Chichele, doctor of law, archbishop of 
coDegein Canterbury, founded a college in Oxford, by the 
founded, name of All Souls, for a warden and forty fellows, 
which number by statute was never to be augmented 
or impaired ; and all void places, by death or other- 
wise, once in a year to be supplied ^. 



^ [See a tract entitled ** No- 
*' bilissima disceptatio super 
'^ dignitate et magnitudine r^- 
*' norum Britaimici et Gallici 
" habita ab utriusque oratori- 
'* bus et legatis in Concilio 
'* Constantiensi." Lovanii, 

^ [The archbishop had his 



breeding in Oxford, and was 
made perpetual fellow of New 
CoU^e^ Oxford, in the year 
1387. See Wood's History of 
the University, p. 252. He 
was raised to the see of Can* 
terbury in 1414* and died in 

1443O 



CENT. XV. 



of Bntaiiu 



449 



Wardens, 



[«437-] 



[I44S0 

[M59-] 
[1466.] 

[1494.] 
[1503.] 
[1524O 

[»S33] 
[1535-] 

[1558.] 
[1558.] 

[1565.] 

[1571-] 
[1614.] 

[1618.] 

[1^35.] 
[1648.] 



1. Dr. Bichard 

Andrews, 
LL.D. 

2. Mr. Roger 

Keyes. 

3. Mr. William 

Kele. 

4. Dr. Winiam 

Poteman. 

5. Mr. John 

St<^ys. 

6. Thomas Hob* 

bys. 

7. Mr. William 

Broke. 

8. Mr. JohnCoale. 

9. Dr. Robert 

Woodward. 

10. Mr. Robert 

Stokdejr. 

11. John Warner, 

M.D. 

12. Mr. Seth Hol- 

land. 

13. Mr. John Pope. 
John Warner, 

a second time. 

14. Mr. Richard 

Barber. 

15. Mr. Robert 

Hoveden. 

16. Dr. [Richard] 

Modket. 

17. Dr. [Richard] 

Astley. 
Dr. Sheldon d; 
Dr. Palmer. 



Bishops, 



James Gold- 
well, bishop 
ofNorwich, 
1472. 

Gilbert Bourn, 
bishop of 
Bath and 
Wells, 1554. 

Giles Tomson, 
bishop of 
Gloucester, 
1611. 



Benefactors. 



Brian Duppa, 
bishop of 
Sarum, fel- 
low of this 
housed. 



King Henry the 
Sixth, at the 
procurement of 
the founder, 
gave four Prio- 
ries Alien, viz. 
Alherbury, 
Romney, We- 
don-Pinkenay, 
audLlangenith f . 

Queen Elizabeth 
confirmed the 
parsonage of 
Staunton Har- 
court. 

Reginald Pole, 
cardinal, arch- 
bishop (k Can- 
terbury. 

Sir William Petre, 
fellow of this 
college, and se- 
cretary to four 
kings and 
queens. 



Learned 
Writers, 



A. D. 1437. 
15 Hen.VL 



Sir Clement 
Edmonds. 



Dr. [Robt.] 
Gentilis, 
an excel- 
lent dvi- 
lian. 

Dr. [Rich.] 
Steward. 

Mr. [Dud- 
ley] 
Digges e. 



^ [These two names were 
left thus, without numbers in- 
dicating their succession, be- 
cause Dr. Sheldon was ejected 
by the parliament, and impri- 
soned by them in 1648 ; during 
which time they put in JVIr. 
Palmer, a student in physic, 
who held the wardenship until 
March 4, 1 660. On his death, 
the Restoration being generally 
expected. Dr. Sheldon was re- 
stored.] 

FULLER, VOL. IJ. 



* [Twenty bishops are rec- 
koned in Wood as having be- 
longed to this college, to the 
death of the hon. Brownlow 
North, bishop of Winchester, 
in 1781. lb. p. 374.] 

^ [Probably some portion of 
the alien priories, which were 
suppressed to the number of 
1 20, and given to this king's 
father in 1414. See Stow's 
Chron. 345. According to a 
note in Wood, referring to the 



4M 



Tkt Ckwxk HUtary 



IT. 



^' Hiillv^ ^ ^^^^ ^ ^^ present this c<4Iege hath one war- 
den, forty fellows, two chaplainff^ three clerks^ m 



choristers, besides officers and serrants ei the foim- 
dation, with other students, the whole number being 
seTentj. The fellows of this ccXIege are bound bj 
their statutes to be 6ene an/i, spemdide vestiti^ d 
medioeriier dncH in ploMO camtm. 

Know, reader, I was |»t>aiised bjr mj respected 
friend. Dr. Jeremj Tajlor, (late fellow of this house,) 
well known to the world bj his worth, a catalogue 
of the eminent scholars thereof; bat it seems the 
press, like time and tide, staying for no man, I ha?e 
not been so hi^ypy seasonably to receiTe it. 
A. D. 1443, 11. 1^ years did this archlnshc^ sarviTe the first 
A tan jeer founding of this college. He was a worthy man in 
*°^^ ^ his generation, had not his Tassalage to the pope 
(the epidemical disease of those days) engaged him 
in cruelty against the poor professors of the truth. 
Most of the synods called by him toward the latter 
end of his life effected only the adTance of money, 
the clergy being very desirous to buy off the penalty 
of a pramunire, so pernicious to their proceedings, 



letters patent of 21 Hen. VI., 
these priories were not b^ged 
bnt purchased of the king bj- 
the archbishop for 1 000 marks. 
Hist, of the University, 260.] 

fS [YvWer mnst have b^n 
very hard pressed to find 
learned writers in this college, 
not one of those who are here 
mentioned (except perhaps Dr. 
Steward) having the least re- 
putation for authorship. But 
Robert Oentilis, who, as Wood 
says, *' turned a rakehell, and 
became king of the beggars," 
and might with the same pro- 



priety have figured as a hero 
m the Dunciad, has not the 
least claim to distinction. Au- 
thor he was none; but as an 
indifferent translator of two or 
three unimportant works, he 
has won a place in some ob* 
scure biographical collections. I 
cannot help thinking, therefore, 
that Fuller confounded him 
with his father. Dr. Albericus 
Grentilis, a learned civilian, and 
a man of considerable eminence, 
who studied at New Inn in the 
university of Oxford ; of whom 
see Wood's Athenae, I. 367.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain, 451 

but could not completely compass the same**. I-^^-'^^J* 






have nothing else to observe of archbishop Chichele, 
saye the common tradition how king Henry the 
Sixth, acted herein by some misoclere-courtiers, 
(otherwise in himself friend enough to churchmen,) 
sent this archbishop, for a new-year's gift, a shred- 
pie indeed, as containing pieces of cloth and stuff, of 
several sorts and colours, in jeer, because his father 
was a tailor at Higham-Ferrers, in Northampton- 
shire. The archbishop thankfully received the gift, 
even after he had seen the entrails thereof, and 
courteously entertained the messenger, requesting 
him to return to his grace, " If my lord the king do 
but as far exceed Henry the Fifth, (whom God 
assoil,) his father, as my meanness hath gone 
beyond my poor father, he will make the most 
accomplished monarch that ever was in Christen- 
dom." John Stafford, one of noble parentage, 
succeeded in the place of Chichele, deceased K 

12. This good precedent of the archbishop's a. d. 1446. 
bounty may be presumed a spur to the speed of the mg^of^"" 
king's liberality, who soon after founded Eaton J^''^^- 
CoUege, incorporate by the name of Prcepositi et 
Collegii Regalis Col. BeaUe Marice de Eaton juxta 
Winsor. It seemeth these words, BeatcB Marice^ 
are so necessary, that being left out in a lease, 
(wherein all the other titles of the foundation were 



^ [See Parker, De Antiq. complished: 

Eccl. Britan. p. 426 ; Stow's « Methinks it were a happy life 

Chron. 383.] To be no better than a homdy swain.** 

* [A noble answer to a very III. Part of Hen. VI., 

silly jest, which if really act "• scene 2. 

Henry VI. did execute, one But I cannot find any autho- 

would feel inclined to wish rity for this anecdote. Chichele 

that his desire had been ac- died April 12, 1443.] 

Gg2 



i52 The Church History book iv. 

A. D. 1446. inserted at large,) the said lease was adjudged void 
24 Hen. VI. £^j, ^^^ omission ^. But know, this verdict passed 

in queen Mary's days, when Regina Maria made 
the mention of BeaJUt Marice so essential there* 
unto. 
Thebttd 13. Indeed it was high time soihef school should 
5S27^ be founded, considering how low grammar-learning 
ran then in the land, as may appear by the foUowing 
verses made for king Henry the founder ; as good, 
no doubt, as the generality of that age did afford, 
though (scarce deserving translation) so that the 
worst scholar in Eaton College that can make a 
verse can make a better. 

Luce tua^ qui fuitua erat^ Nicolae^ sacer rex 

Henricun Sewtus hoc stabilivit opus^ 
Unctum qui lapidem postquam ponebat in Eaton 

Huncjixit clerum commemorando suum. 
Astiterant Hit tunc pontifices in honorem 

Actus solennis regis et eccUsicR. 
Ex Ortentdli ^ si bis septem pedetentim 

Mensurare velis^ invenies lapidem ; 
Infesto sancti Jacobi sanctam stabilivit 

Hie unctam petram regia sacra manus. 

Annis M. CCCC, sexto qtiater XquCy 
Regis et H. regni quintojungendo vi^ena. 

Devout king Henry, of that name the sixt. 
Born, Nic'las, on thy day, this building fixt. 
In Eaton having plac'd a stone anointed. 
In sign it for the clergy was appointed. 
His prelates then were present, iso the more 
To honour the king^s acts and holy chore. 

k Abridgment of Judge Dy- sir Thos. Ireland. 1 65 1 .] 
er's Reports, Num. 379. Trin. ' Medio. 
Term, 4" M arisp, [p. 1 14. By 



CENT, XV. 



of Britain. 



458 



From eastern midst, whereof just fourteen feet, a.d. 1446. 

If any measure, they this stone shall meet. 24 Hen. VI. 
On holy James his day, the sacred hand 
Of royal Henry caused this stone to stand. 

M. four C.s forty-six since Christ was born. 
When H. the crown twenty-five years had worn "». 

1 4. This college consisteth of one provost, fellows, a bountiful 
a schoolmaster and usher, with king's scholars, be- Ood oon- 
sides many oppidanes, maintained there at the cost ^^^^ *'* 
of their friends ; so that were Eaton, as also Win- 
chester-school, removed into Germany, they would 
no longer be accounted scholce, but gymnasia^ a 
middle term betwixt a school and an university. 
The provostship of Eaton is accounted one of the 
genteelest and entirest preferments in England, the 
provost thereof being provided for in all particulars, 
to the very points of his hose, (my desire is one tag 
of them may not be diminished,) and, as a pleasant 
courtier told king Henry the Eighth, an hundred 
pound a year more than enough ". How true this 
is I know not : this I know, if some courtiers were 



"* Viz. current otherwise, 
but 24 complete. 

n Sir John Harrington, pn 
his Nugae Antiquee, ii. p. 95. 
** It was said that a pleasant 
•^ courtier and servitor of king 
" Henry VIII., to whom the 
" king had promised some good 
" turn, came and prayed the 
" king to bestow a living on 
** him that he had found out 
•* worth 100/. by the year more 
" than enough. * Why,* saith 
** the king, ' we have none such 
•' in England.' ' Yes, sir/ said 
** his man, * the provostship of 



" Eaton ; for/ said he, * he is 
" allowed his diet, his lodging, 
" his horse-meat, his servants' 
" wages, his riding charge, his 
*' apparel, even to the points 
'* of his hose, at the college 
" charge, and 100/. by the 
*' year beside.' How true this 
^' is I know not ; but this I 
•* know^ that Mr. Day, having 
** both this and the deanery of 
'' Windsor, was persuaded to 
'* leave them both, to succeed 
'* him that had been once his 
'* vice-provost of Eaton in the 
*' church of Winchester."] 

Gg3 



454 The Church History book iv. 

A. D. 1446. to stint the enough of clergjonen, even the most 

^industrious of them should (with Solomon's slothfiil 

man **) have poverty enough. But take here a cata- 
logue of the provosts of Eton : 

i. Henry Seilver, [or Sever,] D. D., almoner to 
king Henry the Sixth. 

ii. William Waynfleet, B. D., afterwards bishop 
of Winchester, [preferred thither in 1447.] 

iii. John Clerk, B. D., died provost the 7th of 
November, 1447. 

iv. William Westbury, B. D., chosen provost anno 
1448. 

V. Henry Bost, B. D. ; he gave an hundred marks 
and twenty poimds per annum to the college ; died 
the 7th of February, 1503. 

vi. Roger Lupton, B. D. [died in 1540.] 

vii. Robert Aldridge, afterwards bishop of Car- 
lisle, [preferred thither in 1537.] 

viii. Sir Thomas Smith, doctor of law, of Queen's 
College in Cambridge, chosen anno 1554. [1547.] 

ix. Henry Cole, D. D. and law, chosen in the 
same year, 1554. 

X. William Bill, D. D., almoner to queen Eliza- 
beth, chosen July 5, 1559. 

xi. William Day, B. D., dean also of Windsor, 
chosen Jan. 5, 1561, afterwards bishop of Win- 
chester. 

xii. Sir Henry Savile, warden of Merton College 
in Oxford, chosen 3rd of June, 1596, eminent to all 
posterity for his magnificent edition of Saint Chry- 
sostom, in Greek. 

o Prov. XX viii. 19. 



CENT. XV. of Britain. 455 

xiii. Thomas Murray, esq., tutor and secretary to a. d. 1446. 
king Charles, whilst prince, [chosen in 1621.] ^^ — \ 

xiv. Sir Henry Wotton p, famous for several em- 
bassies, chosen 1625. [1624.] 

XV. [Richard] Steward, doctor of law, and dean 
of St. Paul's, [chosen 16390 

xvi. Francis Rouse, esq. [chosen 1643.] 

This Eaton is a nursery to King's College in Cam- 
bridge. All that I will add is, to wish that the 
prime scholars in this school may annually be chosen 
to the university ; and when chosen, their places 
may fall accordingly, not by the death of those in 
King's College, but their advancement to better 
preferment in the church and commonwealth. 

15. If we cast our eyes on the civil estate, we a. d. 1447. 
shall find our foreign acquisitions in France, which lost m *^ ^ 
came to us on foot, running from us on horseback. ^^"*** 
Nulla dies sine civitate^ scarce a day escaping wherein 

the French regained not some city or place of im- 
portance ; so that the English, who under king 
Henry VI. had almost a third of France, besides the 
city of Paris, (another third in itself, for wealth and 
populousness,) soon lost all on the continent, to the 
poor pittance of Calais and a little land, or, if you 
will, some large suburbs round about it. 

16. Yet let not the French boast of their valour, occasioned 
but (under God's providence) thank our sins, and lish <H8- '^' 
particularly our discords, for their so speedy reco-*^^** 
veries. There were many clefts and chaps in our 
council-board, factions betwixt the great lords pre- 
sent thereat; and these differences descended on 



P Whose Life is excellently written by my worthy friend 
Mr. Isaiic Walton. 

Gg4 



466 The Church Huiary mok iv. 

A.D. 1447. thdr attendants and retainen, ^o, patting on their 
15 nm.vL ^^^^^^ ^Qf^ ^Ii3 iiadges as well of the enmities as of 

the anns of their lords and masters. But behold 
them how coupled in their antipathies : 

Deadly feud hetwLtt 

Edmmid Beaufort, duke of Somerset. 
Richard Plantagenet, duke of York. 

Humphrey Plantagenet, duke of Gloucester. 
Henry Beaufort Cardinal, bishop of Winchester. 

William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk. 
John Holland, duke of Exeter. 

Humphrey Stafford, duke of Buckingham. 
Richard Nevill, earl of Warwick. 

Humphrey Plantagenet, duke of Gloucester. 
William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk. 
Richard Nevill, earl of Warwick. 

Betwixt the three last there was, as it were, a battle 
royal in this cockpit, each of them hating and 
opposing another. In all these contests their am* 
bition was above their covetousness, it being every 
one's endeavour not so much to raise and advance 
himself as ruin and depress his adversary. 
The death 17. Two of the aforesaid principal persons left 
phrejvduke the world this year, and in the same month : first, 
of olouces. jjuxnphrey duke of Gloucester, brother to king 

Henry the Fifth, uncle and guardian to king Henry 
the Sixth, a great housekeeper. Hospitality being 
so common in that age, none were commended for 
the keeping, but condemned for the neglecting 
thereof. He was much opposed by queen Margaret, 



ter. 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain. 



467 



(who would have none rule the king her husband A. d. 1447. 

save herself,) and accused of a treacherous design ; '- — ^ 

insomuch that at a packed parliament at Bury he 
was condemned of high treason, and found dead in 
his bed, not without rank suspicion, of cruel prac- 
tices upon his person % 

18. His death is suspended betwixt legal execu-Afitwork 
tion and murder, and his memory pendulous betwixt j^**°^ 
malefactor and martyr. However, the latter hath 
most prevailed in men's belief; and the good duke 
of Gloucester is commonly his character ■*. But it is 
proper for some Oxford man to write his just vin- 
dication, a manual in asserting his memory being 
but proportionable for him who gave to their library 
so many and precious voluminous manuscripts. As 
for those who, chewing their meat with their feet 
whilst they walk in the body of St. Paul's, are com- 
monly said to dine with duke Humphrey », the say- 



q [Humphrey duke of 
Gloucester, being at the castle 
of the Vies, in Wiltshire, came 
from thence to the parliament, 
and was lodged in the hospital, 
where shortly after he was 
arrested by John lord Beau- 
mont, high constable, the duke 
of Buckingham, the duke of 
Somerset, and others, who ap- 
pointed certain of the king's 
household to wait upon him ; 
but on the twenty-fourth day 
be died for sorrow, as some 
said, that he might not come 
to his answer. His body was 
shewed to the lords and 00m- 
mons, and seemed to die of a 
palsy or of an impostume. He 
was honourably buried at St. 
Albans. Thirty- two of his 



principal servants were arrest- 
ed, and ^\Q of them arraigned 
at London for his death, but 
saved by the duke of Suffolk. 
See Stow's Chron. p. 386.] 

I* [Generous he might be; 
but certainly not good, though 
Bale styles him so. Script. 

583,585.] 

8 [Some further remarks 

upon this proverb occur in the 

Worthies, p. 198. ''This pro- 

** verb," our author observes, 

" hath altered the original 

" meaning thereof j for first it 

^* signified (7/2ena vix^ere quadra, 

" to eat by the bounty or feed 

*• by the . favour of another 

" man. For Humphrey duke 

*' of Gloucester, commonly 

" called the good duke, was so 



458 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



The death 
of the rich 
cardinaL 



A.D. i447.inir is as for from truth as they from dimier, even 
!LJ!!!l— I twenty miles off; seeing this duke was buried in 
St. Alban's, to which church he was a great bene- 
fSeujtor^ 

19. The same month with the duke of Gloucester 
died Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, and 
cardinal ^, one of high descent, high spirit, and high 
preferments, hardly to be equalled by cardinal Wol- 
sey (otherwise but a pigmy to him in birth) for 
wealth and magnificence. He lent king Henry the 
Fifth at once twenty thousand pounds, who pawned 
his crown unto him * ; he built the fair hospital of 



•' hospital that every man of 
** fashion otherwise impover- 
** ished was welcome to dine 
" with him, it not being so 
" proper for strangers to sup 
" in those days with the great. 
'* est housekeepers. The said 
** duke was so bountiful that 
" his alms-dish of silver was 
" very massy when empty, 
" (what then when full ?) 
" which alms-dish came after- 
" wards into the possession of 
" the duke of Somerset, who 
** sent it to the lord Rivers to 
" sell the same to furnish him- 
" self for a sea-voyage. But 
'* after the death of the good 
*• duke Humphrey, when many 
" of his former alms-men were 
*' at a loss for a meal's meat, 
*' this proverb did alter its 
" copy, to dine with duke 
'' Humphrey importing to be 
" dinnerless."] 

t [Mistaking his tomb for 
that of sir John Beauchamp, 
constable of Dover. Stow's 
Survey, p. 368.] 

^ [And uncle to the duke 
of Gloucester.] 



X [Whilst stating this fact 
from Godwin, Fuller ought 
not to have concealed the rea- 
son for it, as stated by Godwin : 
the king had contracted great 
debts by his continual wars, 
and to alleviate his wants began 
to cast his eyes upon the pos- 
sessions of the church ; in 
order, therefore, to prevent this 
evil, the cardinal lent him such 
an enormous sum. Another 
instance of this cardinal's mag- 
nificence is also mentioned in 
the Chronicle of Croyland, 
which tells us that at his own 
expense he crowned king 
Henry VI. at Paris, (p. 516.) 
Another continuation of the 
same Chronicle gives an ac- 
count of the cardinal's death, 
as witnessed by one actually 
present, which is so greatly 
different from the popular be- 
lief respecting him that I think 
it necessary to insert it here. 
" Whilst making these re- 
*• marks," says the writer, 
" there occurs to me a nota- 
** ble act of that glorious and 
** catholic man, the said car- 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain, 



459 



St. Cross, near Winchester y; and although chan-A d. 1447. 
cellor of the university of Oxford, was no grand ^^ 
benefactor thereunto, in proportion to his own 
wealth (commonly called the rich cardinal) or the 
practices of his predecessor Wickham, or successor 
Waynfleet. 

20. The bishops assembled in parliament laboured The dergy 
the recalling of the act of pr(Bmunire^ and no ^ain against 
wonder if galled horses would willingly cast off their ^p^^,^ 
saddles ; but belike they found that statute girt too **"*• 
close unto them, the lords and commons stickling 
stoutly for the continuance thereof. And because 
this is the last time we shall have occasion to men- 
tion this statute, and therefore must take our fare- 
well thereof, it will not be amiss to insert the 



f< 

<< 

«c 

€€ 
€€ 
«€ 
4t 
4€ 
« 

« 
«< 

<« 
t€ 
t€ 
4€ 
t* 
€€ 
«€ 
%€ 
t€ 
4* 



dinal of Winchester, and I 
would it were imitated by 
others. When he was in 
his mortal sickness, at his 
palace of Wolnesey, near his 
cathedral church of St. Swi- 
thin's, in the said year 1447, 
having called together into 
the great chamber of his said 
palace the ecclesiastics, reli- 
gious and seculars of the 
parts adjacent, on that day 
of the week before Passion 
Sunday in which the office 
called Sitientes is sung, he 
had his solemn exequies 
chanted before him as he lay 
in his bed, and with them a 
requiem mass. Late in the 
evening, after the perform- 
ance of these exequies, his 
last will and testament was 
publicly read before all, and 
he added certain corrections 



** to it ; and the next morning, 
'* after hearing mass, when he 
** had for the last time read his 
** will publicly, and confirmed 
** it with a clear audible voice, 
" he bade farewell to all pre- 
'< sent, and died in the time 
" which I have before de- 
** scribed, — • Qui enim haec 
*' scripsit adfuit et haec omnia 
** vidit et audivit et scimus 
" quod verum est testimonium 
''ejus.'" p. 582.] 

y [According to Dr. Heylyn 
this hospital was *' first built 
" by Henry of Blois, brother 
" of king Stephen, and bishop 
*• of Winchester, anno 1 1 29, 
** augmented only and perhaps 
'^ more liberally endowed by 
*' this potent cardinal." Ap- 
peal, &c., P. ii. p. 49. See 
Stow, p. 386.] 



460 The Church SRstory book it. 

^' H* '^i' ^^^"S» passage, as relating to the present subjeet^ 

though it happened many years after. 

Aneminent 21. One Robort Lalor, priest, a native of Ireland, 
liquid of a to whom the pope had given the titulary bishopric 
di^lm of Kilmore, and made him vicar-general of the see 
of* rwmu! apostolic withiu the archbishopric of Dublin, &c. ^ 
aJ«- boldly and securely executed his pretended jurisdic- 
tion for many years, was indicted at Dublin, in 
Hilary term, quarto Jacobin upon this statute of 
priBmunire, made two hundred years before, being 
the sixteenth of Richard the Second. His majesty's 
learned counsel did wisely forbear to proceed against 
him upon any latter law, (whereof plenty m the 
reign of queen Elizabeth,) because recusants (swarm*- 
ing in that kingdom) might have their judgments 
convinced, that long before king Henry the Eighth 
banished the usurpation of the pope, the king, lords, 
and commons in England (though for the most part 
of the Romish religion) made strict laws for the 
maintenance of the crown against any foreign in- 
vasion. Whereupon, after the party indicted had 
pleaded at large for himself the jury departed from 
the bar, and returning within half an hour, found 
the prisoner guilty of the contempts whereof he was 
indicted ; wliereupon the solicitor-general moved the 
court to proceed to judgment, and sir Dominic 
Sarsfield * (one of the justices of his majesty's chief 
pleas) gave judgment according to the form of the 
statute whereupon the indictment was framed. 
Hence it plainly appears that such misdemeanours 

z Sir John Davys, in his is related at length.] 
{Irish Reports,] case of prae- a Idem f. 99. 
munire, f. 83. [where this case 



CENT. XV. of Britain, 461 

of papists are punishable at this day, by virtue of ^-^ h47- 

those ancient statutes, without any relation to such 

as were enacted since the ^reformation. 

S2. About this time Jack Cade raised his rebel- ad. 1450. 
Mod, like and unlike to the former commotion of straw like 
Jack Straw »>: like, first, because Jacks both, I"^^"'^*^- 
meaUj insolent, impudent, domineering clowns; se- 
condly, both of them were Kentish by their extrac- 
tions ; thirdly, both of them pressed upon London, 
and there principally played their pranks ; fourthly, 
both of them, after they had troubled the land for a 
short time, were justly slain, and their numerous 
rabble routed and dispersed. In other remarkables 
Cade differed from Jack Straw : first. Straw defied 
all nobility and learning, vowing and endeavouring 
their ruin and extirpation ; whilst Cade pretended 
himself to be the lord Mortimer, and next heir to 
the crown, and no design against learning is charged 
on his account. Lastly, Straw's rebellion is, though 
most falsely, fathered by popish writers on Wicliffe 
and his adherents, to have occasioned (at leastwise 
connived at) his commotion ; but I never met yet 
with any Romanists accusing the Lollards, as they 
term them, for having any hand in Cade's rebel- 
lion. 

23. Now began the broils to break out betwixt A- d. 1455- 

'I'hp Will's 

the two houses of Lancaster and York, so mutually begin be. 
heightened that scarce a county betwixt York (the an^Lan^'^ 
place whence generally their armies started) and^*®*"* 



^ [See Stow's Chron. p. bellion was for real grievances/ 

387. Cade was hardly other but Cade's for the mere supe- 

than an instrument in the hands riority of one political party 

of Richard Plantagenet^ duke over another.] 
of York. Further, Straw's re- 



462 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



55- London (the goal they both aimed to win) but a set 
— battle hath been fought therein ; and if any one shire 
lieth fallow in this kind, the next afforded a double 
crop in that nature, (besides other counties in the 
marches of Wales,) as by the ensuing catalogue will 
appear. 



Plaee, 


Betwixt. 


Time. 


Number eknn. 


Conqueror. 


I.St. Al- 


Richard duke of 


Annoi4S5, 


Slain on the king's 


York 


bany in 


York, and king 


and 34th 


side five thou- 


House. 


Hertford* 


Henry the Sixth 


of king 


sand ; on the 




thire c. 


for Lancaster. 


Hen. VI. 
in June. 


duke*8 ax hun- 
dred. 




3. Blore 


Richard earl of 


Anno 1459, 


Two thousand 


York 


Heath, in 


Salisbury for 


the 37th 


four hundred, 


House. 


Staiford- 


York ; James 


of Hen. 


most Cheshire 




shire d. 


Touchet, lord 


VL Sep. 


men, slain on 






Audley, for 


temb. 31. 


Lancaster side. 






Lancaster. 








3. North- 


Richard earl of 


Anno 1460, 


Ten thousand 


York 


ampton e. 


Warwick for 


38 Hen. 


slain and 


House. 




York, king 


VL oth 


drowned on 






Henry VI. for 


July. 


both sides. 






Lancaster. 








4. Wake- 


Richard duke of 


In the same 


Two thousand two 


Lancaster. 


field, in 


York, queen 


year. 


hundred slain on 




York. 


Margaret for 


Dec. 31. 


York side, with 




shire f. 


Lancaster. 




their duke. 




5. Morti- 


Edward earl of 


Anno 1461, 


Three thousand 


York 


mer^s 


March, after- 


39 Hen. 


eight hundred 


House. 


Cross, in 


wards king, for 


VL Feb. 


slain on Lancas- 




Shrop- 


York; [Jasper, 


2. 


ter side. 




shire s. 


earl of Pem- 
broke, for Lan- 
caster.] 


I 






6. St Al- 


Richard earl of 


The same 


About two thou- 


Lancaster. 


ban^s, in 


Warwick for 


year and 


sand on both 




Hertford- 


York; king 


month. 


sides. 




shire K 


Henry and Mar- 
garet his wife, 
in person, for 
Lancaster. 


1 7th Feb. 







c [See Stow's Chron. 398.] 
d [Stow, ib. 405.] 
e [Hall's Chron. p. 244, ed. 
1 809.] 



^ [Hall, ib. p. 250.' 
g [Hall, ib. p. 251.' 
^ [The Lancastrians were 
headed by the queen only, the 



CEXT. XV. 



of Britain. 



463 



Place. 


Betwixt, 


Time, 


Number slain. 


Conqueror, 


7. Towton, 


Edward earl of 


Same year, 


Thirty-five thou- 


York 


in Not- 


March for York ; 


March 


sand ninety and 


House. 


tingham- 


king Hen. VI. 


29, being 


one on both 




nhire* 


■ 


Palm- 
Sunday. 


sides. 




8. Hex- 


John Nevill, lord 


Anno T 464, 


Number great, 


York 


ham, in 


Montague; king 


4 Edward 


but unceitain. 


House. 


North- 


Hen. VI. and 


IV. May 






iimber- 


the queen. 


'5- 






land K 










9. Ban- 


William Herbert, 


Anno 1469, 


Five thousand 


Lancaster. 


bury or 


earl of Pem- 


9 Edward 


slain in the place. 




Edgcot, 


broke, for York ; 


IV. July 


most of them 




in Uie 


Bobbin of Rids- 


26. 


Welshmen. 




coti fines 


dale, alias Hil- 








of Oxford 


liard, for Lan- 








and 


caster. 








North- 










ampton- 










shire 1. 










10. Barnet, 


Richard Nevill, 


Anno 1 47 1, 


Four thousand 


York 


in Mid- 


earl of Warwick, 


11 Ed- 


slain on both 


House. 


dlesex"*. 


for liancaster ; 
kingEdward IV. 
for York. 


ward IV. 
April 14, 
being 
Easter, 
day. 


sides. 




ii.Tewl^es- 


King Edward IV. 


In the same 


Three thousand 


York 


bury, in 


for York ; queen 


year, on 


slain of the 


House. 


Glouces- 


Margaret and 


the 4th 


House of Lan- 




tershire". 


Edward her son 
for liancaster. 


of May. 


caster. 




12. Bos- 


King Richard III. 


Anno 1485, 


About four thou- 


Lancaster. 


worth, in 


for York ; Henry 


3 Richard 


sand slain in all. 




Leicester. 


earl of Richmond 


III. Aug. 






shire 0. 


for Lancaster. 


22. 







A. D. 1455. 
34 Hen.VL 



king being at this time in the 
hands or his enemies. See 
Hal], ib. 252, who observes, 
truly enough, " Happy was the 
** queen in her two battles, but 
unfortunate was the king in 
all his enterprizes ; for where 
'• his person was present there 
'^ victory fled ever from him to 
*' the other part, and he com- 



<< 



€t 



** monly was subdued and van- 
" quished."] 

i [Hall, ib. 255. Towton is 
in Yorkshire.] 

^ THall, ib. 259; Stow, p. 



417-] 
1 



m 
n 

o 



[Hist. Croyland, 551.] 

;Hist. Croyland, 555.] 

Hist. Croyland, 555.] 

'Stow's Chron. p. 470.] 



464 



The Church History 



BOOK IT. 



A D. 1455- 












34 Hen.VI. 


Place. 


Betwixt. 


Time. 


Number Min. 


Comquenr, 




13. Stoke, 


John de la Pole, 


Anno 1487, 


About four thou- 






in Not- 


earl of Linooln, 


2 Hen. 


sand (whereof 


oriather 




tingham- 


for York ; king 


VII. 


many Irish) 


the two 




shire P. 


Henry VII. for 


June 16. 


slain on botli 


houses 






Lancaster. 




sides. 


united 
in king 
Henry 
theSe- 












venth. 



Besides many other skinnishes, (comvals with bat- 
tles;) so that such who consider the blood lost 
therein would admire England had any left: and 
such as observe how much it had left would wonder 
it had any lost, such still the populousness thereof. 

But these things the reader may best inform 

himself out of the state historians, and particularly 

out of that noble Italian author (elegantly and 

expressively translated by the earl of Monmouth) 

who hath written a large volume, to the great credit 

of our English nation, of the wars betwixt York and 

Lancaster. So that I could heartily wish that some 

Englishman, in requital of his courtesy, would write 

the Italian discords betwixt the Guelphs and Gui- 

belines. 

A. D. 1457. 24. It was much that in the midst of so many 

Coi£g«in miseries of civil wars, William, sumamed Patten, 

founded by ^^^ ^^^ parents, but Waynfleet, from the place of 

Wa^eet ^^® nativity^, now bishop of Winchester, should 

found the fair college dedicated to Mary Magdalen, 

in Oxford, for one president, forty fellows, thirty 

demies, four chaplains, eight clerks, and sixteen 



P [Stow, p. 472.] 
q [A sea-port town in the 
county of Lincoln. Like Chi- 



chele, he received his education 
in Oxford.] 



CEKT. XV. of Britain. 465 

choristers, which number can never be increased ; a. d. 1457. 
but though this foundation cannot be made broader !i^!!:Ii 
or longer, (admit of more members,) yet may it be 
made deeper, and is capable of benefactors' charity 
to augment the maintenance of the aforesaid num- 
ber. This William Waynfleet first founded Mag- 
dalen Hall, hard by ^ (as scriveners use to try their 
pens on a small piece of paper, before they begin 
what they fairly intend to write,) and afterwards 
undertook and finished this far more stately piece of 
architecture ; for whoso observeth the magnificence 
of the structure, the numerousness of the corpora- 
tion, the largeness of their endowments, and the 
mutual concinnity of all parts amongst themselves 
therein, may possibly find out a college which may 
exceed it in some, but hardly any tbat will equal it 
in all accommodations; where nothing is wanting 
for health and pleasure, except some will say that 
Mary Maudlin weepeth too much, and the walks 
sometunes too wet and moist from the depressed 
situation thereof. 

25. Nor hath this house been less fruitful than The many 
any with famous persons ; and it is observable that bred 
there is scarce a bishopric in England to which this ^^'^^ 
college hath not aflForded one prelate at the least, 
(doubling her files in some places,) as by the ensuing 
catalogue vrill appear. 

' [He obtained a licence in 1448. Wood's Hist, of the 
from the king for that purpose University, 307.] 



rULLER, VOL. IT. H h 



466 



The Church Hutory 



BOOK iv. 



A.D. 1459. 
37 Hen. VI. 



PresidenU, 


Ben^actoTt, 


BiMhopi. 


Wriien. 


[1448.] Mr. John 


King Henry 


John 


John Voy- 


John day. 


Homley. 
[1458.] Mr. Wil- 


the Seventh. 


Stokesley, 


sey, W- 


mood, after- 


Thomas In- 


bishop of 


shop of 


wards pre- 


liam Ty. 


gledeu, 


London, 


Exeter, 


sident of 


bard. 


chapl^ to 


1530. 


1520- 


Corpus 


[1480.] Mr. Ri. 


the founder. 


Thomas 


WilKam 


Christ! s. 


chard 


Wilh'am 


Cooper, 


Brad- 


John 


Mayo. 


Fitz.i\lan, 


bishop of 


bridge, 


Hooker t. 


[1504.] Mr. John 


earl of 


Winches- 


bishop of 


Michad 


Clay- 


Arundel. 


ter, 1584. 


Exeter;, 


Rem'ger*. 


mond. 


John For- 




1578. 


John Fox, 


[1516. JohnHyg. 


man. 


John liong- 


Richard 


antbor of 


den, 


Mr. Hygden, 


land, bi- 


Mayo, 


theKonkof 


D.D.] 


pres. 


shop of 


bishop of 


Martyrs. 


[1535. Lawrence 


John Clay- 


Linodn, 


Hereford, 


Thomas 


Stubbs, 


mond. 


i5ai. 


1504. 


Cooper, 


D.D.] 


pres. 


Thomas 


ifitm Har- 


who wrote 


[1537.] Dr. [Tho- 


Robert Mor- 


Bentham, 


ley, bi- 


theg^reat 


mas] 


went. 


bishop of 


shop of 


Dictionary. 


Knolles. 


John Molins, 


Coventry 


Hereford, 


Robert Crow- 


['53S-] Mr. 


archdeacon 


and Lich- 


I553* 


ley X. 


[Owen] 


of [Paul's,] 


field, 




Peter Mor- 


Ogle- 


London. 


[*SS9-] 




vingy. 


thorpe. 


Dr. John 


Wilh'am 


Thomas 


Alan Copes 


[i55a« Walter 


Warner, 


Overton, 


Bickley, 


proctor of 


Haddon, 


last bishop 


bishop of 


bishop of 


the univer- 


D. C. L.] 


of Roches- 


Coventry 


Chiches- 


fflty, 1558. 


[i553« Owen 


ter. 


and Lich- 


ter, 1585. 


Julius 


0^ 




field, 




Pahner, 


thorpe, 




[1580.] 




mart. 


D.D.,the 




Accepted 


John War- 


Dr.Lawrencft 


second 




Frewen, 


ner, bi- 


Humphrey. 


time.] 




bishop of 


shop of 


JdmBudd^ 


[1555O Mr. [Ar. 




Coventry 


Rodies- 


doctor of 


thur] 




and Lich- 


ter, 1637. 


law, who 


Cole. 




field, 




wrote many 


[1558-] Mr. [Tho- 




1644. 




men's lives 


mas] Co- 




Henry 


John Bul- 


inelegant 


veney. 




Cotton, 


lingham. 


Latin. 


[156 1.] Dr. Law. 




bishop of 


bishop of 




renoe 




Salisbury, 


Bristol 




Hum- 




1598. 


and Glou- 




phrey. 






cester, 
holding 
both to- 
gether. 




4 






1581. 


• 



» Pitz. in vita, p. 688. 

* Idem, p. 730. 

^ Bale, cent. ix. § 73. 

* Idem ib. §. 80. 



y Pitz. in vita, p. 757. 

z Brian Twyne, Antiquit. 
Academ. Oxon. in Catal. Pro- 
curatorum. 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain. 



467 











A. D. 1459. 


Pre9ident9. 


BenefadorB, 


Bishops. 


WrUert. 


37 Hen. VI. 


[1590.] Dr. Nicho- 




Thomas Oeorge 


Dr. Henry 




las Bond. 




Godwin, Cotys, 


Hammond. 




[1607.] Dr. John 




hishop of bishop of 


Dr. Peter 




Harding. 




Bath and Chester, 


Heylyn. 




[i6ia] Dr. Wil- 




Wells, 1554. 


• • 




liam 




1584- 






Langton. 




Thomas William 






[1636.] Dr. Ac- 




Wolsey, Down- 






cepted 




archbishop ham, bi- 






Frewen. 




of York, shop of 


. 




[1644.] I^* Joiin 




15 15. Chester, 






Oliver'. 




1561. 






[1648.] Dr. John 




John Piers, Owen Ogle- 






Wilkin. 




archbishop thorpe. 






son. 




of York, bishop of 






[1649.] Dr. Tho- 




1588. Carlisle, 






mas God- 




'557 »>• 






win. 




• 





Give me leave to suspect this catdogue of pre- 
sidents not complete*^ (though set forth by their 
great antiquary \) both because Dr. Hygden (avowed 
president in the list of benefactors ®) is therein omit- 
ted, as also Dr. Walter Haddon*", whom we find 
president hereof in the beginning of queen Mary. 



* [He was ejected by the 
Parliamentarians in 1647, and 
Dr. John Wilkinson, principal 
of Magdalen Hall, and a noted 
presbyterian preacher, put in 
his place. He dying, the no- 
torious Thomas Goodwyn was 
appointed by Oliver Crom- 
weU.] 

*> [Thirty-six bishops are 
enumerated in Wood, to the 
death of Dr. Thomas Thurlow, 
bishop of Lincoln, in 1779. 
Wood, ib. 321.] 

^ [The deficient names and 
dates I have supplied and in- 
cluded in brackets, in the ac- 
count of this as well as of the 
other colleges.] 

H 



d Vide in calce libri. [I 
suppose he refers to Br. Twyne, 
who has only enumerated the 
first eleven.] 

e Vide Scot's Tables [at the 
end of Isaacson's Chronology.] 

^ L. Humphrey, in the Life 
of Bishop Jewel, p. 71, [ed. 
iS73«] Walter Haddon was 
regius professor of law in the 
university of Cambridge. Seve- 
ral mandates were sent by fid- 
ward VI. to compel the fellows 
of that society to receive him 
as their president. He held it 
for a short time, and on the 
death of the king, the next 
year, resigned for fear of ex- 
pulsion. See Wood, ib. 516.] 

h2 



468 



The Church Hisiory 



BOOK IT. 



A.D. 145a At this day there are therein a preodent» fi^ty M- 
lows, thirty demies or scholars, four ehaplahw, eight 
clerks, sixteen choristers, one schoolmaster, and an 
usher ; three readers of diyinity, natural and moral 
philosophy : besides divers officers and servants of 
the foundation, with other students: being in all 
two hundred and twenty. 
A. D. 1461. 26. King Henry being conquered in a fetal battle 
the Fourth at TowtoD, in Nottinghamshire, fled wiUi his queen 
S^ ^ into Scotland ; and to make himself the more wel- 
^^'^^v'^^ come, resigned Berwick to the king thereof^. Ed- 
ward duke of York, his adversary, reigned in his 
stead by the name of Edward the Fourth, who, next 
to God and his own right, had just cause to thank 
Richard Nevill, earl of Warwick, for his crown. 
This was that Nevill who, for extraction, estate^ 
alliance, dependents, wisdom, valour, success, and 
popularity, was superior to any English subject since 
the Conquest. People's love he chiefly purchased 
by his hospitality, keeping so open an house that 
he was most welcome who brought the best stomach 
with him ; the earl charitably believing that all who 
were men of teeth were men of arms. Any that 
looked like a man might have in his house a full 
half yard of roast meat ; namely, so much as he 
could strike through and carry away with his dag- 



g [After the fatal battle of 
St. Alban's, Edward earl of 
March entered London the 28tli 
of February, 1461, where, by 
the favour of the Londoners 
and the Kent and Essex men, 
he was proclaimed king, and 
began his reign upon the 4th 
of March. The battle here 



mentioned was fongjit between 
Towton and SaxUm, in York- 
shire, upon Palm Sunday, the 
29th of March following, and 
may be considered as the deci- 
sive blow which settled the 
throne of the new king. See 
Stow's Chron. p. 415.3 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain. 



469 



ger K The bear was his crest ; and it may be truly a. d. 146 i. 

said that when the bear roared the lions of the forest '- — 1 

trembled, the kings of England themselves being 
at his disposal. 

27. This king's reign aflFordeth very little church why Httie 
story, and therefore Mr. Fox (whose industry would tory in this 
have found out church-matter, if above ground,) is,^* 
fain to fill it up with foreign passages or domestic 
relations of our civil differences. Indeed now the 
sound of all bells in the steeples was drowned with 

the noise of drums and trumpets ; and yet this good 
was done by the civil wars, it diverted the prelates 
from troubling the Lollards ; so that this very storm 
was a shelter to those poor souls, and the heat of 
these intestine enmities cooled the persecution 
against them. 

28. Thomas Bourchier, archbishop of Canterbury, a. d. 1462. 
kept a synod of his clergy at London, when Geoffrey vi^es^" 
Langbroke, a member thereof, (as proctor for Peter I^^f °^ 
Courtney, archdeacon of Exeter,) was, at the suit 

of Simon Notyngham, arrested by the bailiffs of the 
lord major. Complaint being made hereof to the 
convocation, they sent the prior of Canterbury to the 
major and sheriffs, to restore the aforesaid Geoffrey 
to his liberty, threatening them else with excom- 
munication ; to prevent which the party was re- 
leased \ The parliament, sitting at the same time, 



^ Stow'8 Aimalsy p. 421, 
[and Survey, p. 72.] 

i Antiq. Brit. p. 439 ; [Wil- 
kins's Cone. ill. 578. This 
synod was held in 1460, and 
not in 1462, previous to grant- 
ing the charters mentioned in 
the former note, and to which 



the resolutions of this synod 
appear to have been prepara- 
tory. See Wilkins, ib. A 
convocation was indeed held 
2 1st July, 1462, but nothing 
else appears in the register ex- 
cepting their grant of a tenth 
to the king.] 

H h 3 



470 The Church HUtory book iy. 

A. D. 1463. bestowed many privileges on the clergy ^. As for 



the other synods in this king's reign, being six as 
I account them, little more than granting of sub- 
sidies was propounded and concluded therein. 
AjD.1463. 29- King Henry returned out of Scotland, fiir- 
Henry uishod with Sufficient forces from James the Third 
routed and to recoYcr his crowu, had success befriended him ; 
impriaoiMd. 1^^^ king Edward marched against him in person, 

(one means of his being so fortunate in his fights, 
seeing in peace the master his eye maketh the fat 
horse, as the prince's in war the valiant horse-rider,) 
totally defeated, took, and imprisoned him in the 
Tower. Here, whilst churchmen observe how ten- 
der-eyed the charity, statesmen admire how blind 
the policy of that age, in keeping king Henry aKve. 
No such sure prison for a captive king as a grave, 
whose life, though in restraint, is a fair mark for the 
full aim of malcontents to practise his enlargement. 
As here it fell out in king Henry, who, either 
slighted for his simplicity that he could do no mis- 
chief, or reverenced for his sanctity that he should 
suffer no ill, was preserved alive, and reserved 
thereby to be a future trouble to king Edward, who, 
though valiant to repel, was not wise to foresee 
dangers, and now, conceiving himself sure, was 
viciously disposed, and given over to too much licen- 
tiousness. 
A. D. 1465. 30. Richard Nevill, earl of Warwick, is sent over 

The earl of 

^ [It was in the November of cuting or defending any suits in 

this year that the king^ with the any other than the spiritual 

authority of the parliament, courts. Printed in Rymer, xi. 

granted that celebrated charter 493 ; Wilkins, Cone. iii. 583. 

to the clergy by which they were See also Collier, i. 679, and 

exempted from being arrested or App. §.52. Carte's History 

tried by the laity, or from prose- of England, II. 766.] 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain. 



471 



into France to obtain the lady Bona, daughter to a. 0.1465. 
the duke of Savoy \ wife to king Edward"*. So 5 — II 1 



Warwick 



powerfiil a spokesman could not but speed, and all takes juat 
things are concluded, save the meeting of the parties ^^^!* 
and a priest to marry them. Meantime king Edward ''^»^- 
marrieth the lady Elizabeth Grey °, the first English 



^ [And sister to the queen 
of France. Stow, p. 618.] 
» [Fox, Mon. i. 934.] 
^ QWidow of sir John Grey, 
who was slain at St. Alban's on 
the side of king Henry. Her 
mother was Jaquelin, daughter 
of Peter of Luxembourg, E. 
of S. Paul, duchess of BediFord. 
The marriage was kept secret 
nearly half a year. See a very 
romantic story respecting this 
marriage in Hume's Hist. iii. 
236, ed. 1767. According to 
Stow and our other chroniclers 
this was not the only affront, 
unintentional or designed, which 
the king offered to the earl of 
"Warwick, for at this time he 
took away the chancellorship 
from the bishop of Exeter^ the 
earl's brother^ and gave it to 
the bishop of Bath. See Stow, 
41 8. But, unfortunately for 
this plausible narrative, the 
acts of the kingdom are entirely 
against it. The great seal was 
not taken away from George 
NevUl, the earl's brother, until 
June 8, 1467, (Rymer's Foed. 
vol. V. p. 144, ed. 3a.) two years 
after he had been translated to 
York ; and that, in all proba- 
bility, because his absence in 
his diocese rendered it impos- 
sible for him to perform the 
duties of the chancellorship. 
As a proof of this, (which pro- 
bably was the origin of this 



error into which most of our 
writers have fedlen,) upon April 
loth this year, 1464, on ac- 
count of the bishop's journey 
to Newcastle, where he went 
as one of the commissioners to 
treat with Scotland, the great 
seal was put in commission till 
his return. Rymer, ib. 120. 
The same tiling had been done 
August 21, 1463, when he was 
appointed a commissioner to 
treat with France at St. Omer's. 
Rymer, ib. 116. On February 
7th, 1469, two years after the 
taking away of the great seal, 
the king granted to the arch- 
bishop and his heirs the manor 
of Penley, with all its appurte- 
nances, in the counties of Hert- 
ford and Buckinghamshire, 
(Rymer, ib. 168,) according to 
Carte, for the archbishop's good 
offices in procuring a reconcilia- 
tion between the king and the 
earl. Upon the 17th of August, 
the same year, Richard, the 
great earl of Warwick, the arch- 
bishop's brother, was appointed 
chief justiciary of South Wales, 
constable of Cardigan, &c. (Ry- 
mer, ib. 171,) besides being 
appointed, the 23 d of February 
in the same year, a commis- 
sioner for inquiring into the 
division of the lands of Picardy, 
(Ib. 169,) and on the 7th of 
May, 1470, joined with the 
duke of Clarence in a commis- 



H h 4 



472 



The Church History 



BOOK IT. 



A. D. 1465. 
5 Edw. IV. 



A. D.I 469. 
King Ed. 
ward taken 
prisoner, 
and king 
Henry en- 
larged. 



king who since the Conquest wedded his subject ; I 
might also add, and the first that matched with a 
widow, seeing Eleanor, wife to king Henry the 
Second, divorced from Lewis the younger, king of 
France, was properly neither maid nor widow. War- 
wick stormeth hereat, that he had taken so much 
pains about nothing, highly sensible of the affiront, 
seeing a potent arm is not to be employed about a 
sleeveless errand. He resolves revenge; and be- 
cause he could not make her queen whom he desired, 
he would make him king whom he pleased. 

81 . Take hereof this cursory account : After many 
bloody battles, king Edward was taken prisoner at 
Wolney, in Warwickshire, and committed by the 



sion of array, by letters patent 
tested at Waltham Abbey. lb. 
173. Till this period the earl of 
Warwick was loaded with a suc- 
cession of honours; and the pub- 
lic acts of the kingdom, suffici- 
ently testified by the documents 
published in Rymer, tested al- 
most without exception at West- 
minster^ without so much as a 
month's interval between them, 
throw great suspicion on the 
whole of this account of king 
Edward's capture and his dis- 
sension with the War wicks. 

Secondly, had the earl ever 
been sent into France to nego- 
ciate a marriage with the lady 
Bona, it would scarcely have 
escaped the notice of Corn- 
mines. According to a conti- 
nuation of the Chronicle of 
Croyland, published by Gale in 
his Decern Seriptores, the dis- 
sension between the king and 
the earl of Warwick was occa- 
sioned by king Edward giving 



his sister Margaret in marriage 
to Charles, eldest son of PhiHp 
duke of Burgundy, contrary to 
the wishes of the earl, who 
favoured the king of France. 
This marriage was solemnized 
in 1467, and^ added to the dis- 
content which had been already 
occasioned by the king's mar- 
riage, produced an open rup- 
ture. Hist. Croylandensis^ p. 
551. The same Chronicle states 
that when the king was taken 
prisoner^ he was allowed to es- 
cape by the express consent of 
the earl ; for the party of king 
Henry gathering strength in 
the marches of Scotland, and 
headed by Humphrey Nevyl, 
would have prevailed once more, 
had not the earl raised a power 
against them in king Edward's 
name, and^ for a better colour 
to this purpose, allowed him to 
appear at liberty. Carte, how- 
ever, doubts the truth of this 
tale altogether.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain. 478 

earl of Warwick to the custody of his brother, a. d. 14^. 
George Nevill, archbishop of York. Henry is? — ^' 
brought out of the Tower — shall I call him the a. d. 1470. 
sixth or the seventh, because dead, (though not in 
law, in dignity,) and once deposed, he is now restored 
again to wear the royal robes, not so much as his own 
garments, but as the livery [of] the earl of Warwick 
his liberality. However he acted a very short part 
of sovereignty, wherein he revenged not any personal 
wrongs offered u^to him in his restraint; for one 
who thrust him into the side with a sword, when he 
was prisoner in the Tower, was afterwards pardoned 
by him when restored to his former dignity. 

82. Meantime the archbishop allowed kin? Edward Edward es- 

caped flieth 

liberty to ride abroad and follow his pleasure ; now a beyond sea, 

11 • . i_ i_ • • • J and return- 

careless keeper giveth his pnsoner a warning, andeth. 

sheweth him a way to make his escape. King 
Edward followeth his hawking so long, that he 
taketh his own flight at last. Over he gets beyond 
the seas to his brother-in-law, Charles duke of Bur- 
gundy, by whom he was supplied to the proportion 
of a competent subsistence, but not enabled for the 
recovering of a crown °. However he returned intoA.D.1471. 
England, landed in the north, marched to York, 
desired to be received therein, as into the place 
whence he received his title, but in no other notion 
than a subject to king Henry, taking the sacrament 
on the truth thereof; but having gotten the city as 



° [The duke supplied him be a direct interference of Pro- 

both with naval and military vidence ; for it was the same 

forces for the recovery of the place where Henry IV. landed 

crown. Hist. Croyland. p* 554. upon his insurrection against 

He landed at Holdemess, an Richard II.] 
act in which there seemed to 



474 7%e CImrch Hutary book iv. 

A.D.i47i.duke. he kept it as kinir, contrary to his oath, for 

1 1 Edw IV c? ^ 

1-J which his children are conceived to faxe no whit the 

better. 
?*" °''^**^ 88. Let the state historians inform you with what 

toe croim *^ 

hf ooo- various changes king Edward made hence into the 
south, and at last, near Bamet, bid battle to and 
defeated the earl of Warwick, slain with his brother 
the marquis Montague on the place p. Learn also 
from them how king Henry was cruelly put to 
death, and his son and queen Margaret soon after 
overthrown at Tewkesbury. For when a royal 
family is once falling, all things conduce to expedite 
their destruction. Henceforward king Edward (sav- 
ing the differences of his own with his wife's kin- 
dred) passed the remnant of his days in much peace, 
plenty, and pleasure, 
whymort 34. In most of the battles, we may observe, it 
make for wias the word-general of the weaker side, "For 
London, for London !" as the most martial thrift to 
conquer a kingdom in a city ; for such whose neces- 
sities can allow their armies but little time to stay, 
do bum daylight in pelting against petty towns in 
the outskirts of a land, especially if all other human 
hopes be in one desperate push. Hence was it that 
so many battles were fought about Bamet and St. 
Alban's, (the cockpit of war,) the lines of all armies 
drawn from the circumference of the land being the 
closer together the nearer they approached London, 
the centre in trade and wealth, though not in exact 
position thereof. 



Londoii. 



Brawls be- 35. Como we uow to a tamer contest, and more 

twixtmen- , , n i . -• • , . 

dicanto and proper for our pen, contmumg all this kmgs time, 

secular 

Hi. 

P [See Hist. Croyland, 555.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain. 4/75 

betwixt the heggmg friars and secular priests; the a. p. 1471. 

former not content to cry up the dignity of their 

own order, but cast contempt on the rest of the 
clergy. But these bold beggars met with as bold 
sayers nay; I mean these mendicants found their 
matches in the secular priests, effectually humbling 
their pride herein; for it was beheld as a most 
pestiferous doctrine, the friars so heightening the 
perfection of begging, that according to their prin- 
ciples all the priesthood and prelacy in the land, 
yea, by consequence the pope himself, did fall short 
of the sanctity of their order. Yet hard was it for 
them to persuade his holiness to quit Peter's patri- 
mony, and betake himself to poverty; although a 
friar (Thomas Holden by name) did not blush to 
preach at Paul's Cross, in 1465, that Christ himself, 
as first founder of their society, was a beggar; a 
manifest untruth, and easily confuted out of Scrip- 
ture ^. 

86. For vast the difference betvrixt begging and Christ 
taking what the bounty of others doth freely confer, duced tobe 
as our Saviour did from such who ministered unto^^*^^^^^' 
him of their substance '. We never read him 
begging any thing, save when from the woman of 
Samaria " he asked water, a creature so common and 
needful that it was against the law of nature to 
deny it him. Nor is it probable he was a men- 



4 Fox, Acts, &c. [i. 939. from it in Fox shew that it 

From a chronicle in MS. enti- must have been of considerable 

tied ** Scala Mundi," written value for this obscure period of' 

probably by Nicholas Monta- our history. See Bale's Script, 

cute, see Bale's Cent.viii. §. 25. viii. §.31.] 
It is much to be regretted that ' Luke viii. 3. 
this chronicle is nowhere now ^ John iy. 7. 
to be found, as the extracts 



476 The Chmrtk Hutary book n. 

^^^4^- dicant, who was rated in the publican's toll-book, 

and paid tribute unto Caesar ^ Not to say that he 

was so bi from begging, that it was his custom 
(especiallj about the time of the passover) to relieve 
others, and Judas his purse-bearer was his almoner 
to distribute to the poor *. 
Writm 37. Here it will not be amiss to reckon up the 
STtiie *^ principal champions on both sides, whose pens pub- 
licly appeared : 

For Mendicants. 

i. Henry Parker, a Carmelite, bred in Cambridge, 
living afterwards in Doncaster convent, imprisoned 
for preaching ^. 

ii. John Milverton, bred in Oxford, Carmelite of 
Bristol, being excommunicated by the bishop of 
London, and appealing to the pope, foimd no favour, 
but was kept three years captive in St. Angelo y. 

Against Mendicants. 

i. Thomas Wilton, doctor of both laws, and, say 
some, dean of St. Paul's, most zealous in his preach- 
ings and disputings '. 

ii. William Ivie, canon of St. Paul's in London, 
who wrote very learnedly in the defence of Richard 
Hill, bishop of London, who imprisoned two men- 
dicants for their proud preaching ". 

But after pope Paul the Second had interposed 
herein, concluding " Q^wd Christus publice mendica- 
** wV, pro damnata {Jueresi] undique declarandam et 

^ Matt. xvii. 24. 7 Idem. p. 673. 

^ John xiii. 29. ' Idem. p. 659. 

* Pitz. p. 660. a Idem. p. 654. 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain, 



477 



** conculcandam esse\'' the mendicants let fell their a. d. 147 1. 

bucklers, and the controversy sunk in silence, never ^ '■ — .* 

more revived ^. 

88. Never had England at once two archbishops a prodigi. 

i» "I • "I i i« .L A-i_» x» 1 OU8 feast at 

of SO high extraction as at this time ; namely, an arch- 
Thomas Bourchier, son of Henry earl of Essex, and g^^^^' 
George Nevill, brother to the great earl of Warwick. 
The latter is famous for a prodigious feast, wherein 
whoso noteth the number and quality of the guests, 
(all the nobility, most of the prime clergy, many of 
the great gentry,) will wonder where he got meat 
for so many mouths ; whilst such who number the 
dishes thereof will more admire where he got mouths 
for so much meat. But see the bill of fare : 



Quarters of wheat ^ 


300 


Tuns of ale 


• « 


330 


Tuns of wine 


• 


104 


Pipes of spiced 


wine . 


2 


Fat oxen . 


. 1 


80 


Wild bulls 


• i 


6 


Wethers 


• 4 


. 1004 


Hogs 


. • 


300 


Calves 


• i 


300 


Geese 


■ < 


. 3000 


Capons 


• < 


3200 


Pigs 


• t 


300 


Peacocks . 


• 


100 



^ [Scala Mundi, quoted by 
Pox, ib.] 

c [From this period, and 
owing to this circumstance, the 
influence of the mendicant or- 
ders gradually declined. In 
the year 1458 Milverton wrote 
to Pius II., detailing the whole 
process of this dispute, and ar- 



raigning the conduct of Regi- 
nald Pecock. Not however 
succeeding in his application, 
nor obtaining any favour, he 
returned to London, and died in 
1 486. See Pitz. p. 674. Wood's 
Hist. Univ. Oxon. in a. 145 7 sq.] 
d Godwin, \J)e Praesul. Ang. 
p. 695.] 



4n Ti 


KOkni^tfo] 


BOOK IT. 


A.D.I4TI. Gnnee 


!M)0 


""•■"■ Kids 




soo 


Chickens 




2000 


PigMDS 




4000 


Babbits 




4000 


Bittnin 




204 


Dufto 




4000 


Henuem 




400 


Pheasants 




200 


Partridges 




500 


Woodcocks 




4000 


PloTera 




400 


Cndews 




100 


Qnail> 




100 


Egrets 




1000 


Keee 




200 


Bucks, docs, and roes, more 


than 400 


Hot Teoison pasties 


1506 


Cold TeiiiBon pasties . 


4000 


Dishes of jeUj parted . 


1000 


Dishes of jeUy phun . 


4000 


Tarts 


400 


Cold custards 


4000 


Hot custaids 


2000 


Pikes 


SOO 


Breams 


300 


Seals 


8 


Potpoises ■ 


4 


Earl of Warwick, steward. 




Earl of Bedford, treasurer. 




Lord Hastings, controller; with 


many more noble 


officers. 




Servitors . 


1000 


Cooks 


62 


Kitcheners 




515 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain, 



479 



People present at this feast needed strong sto-A.D. 1471. 

. iiEdw.IV. 

machs to devour, and others absent stronger faith 1-^ 

to believe so much meat at one time. Take the 
proportion by sheep, whereof magnificent Solomon 
spent but an hundred a day in his sumptuous court ®, 
and here were ten times as many expended at this 
feast as he in a day's provision for all his numerous 
retinue. How long this entertainment lasted is 
uncertain ; but by the pork, doves, and woodcocks 
eaten therein, it plainly appears kept in winter, 
when such are in season ; and how the same can be 
reconciled with so much summer fowl as was here 
used I little know, and less care to resolve. 

89- But seven years after, this archbishop, to a. 0.1472. 
entertain king Edward, made another feast at More ^^^ 
Park, in Hertfordshire, inferior to the former for^«»«iu^ 
plenty, yet perchance equalling it in price ; for the 
king seized on all his estate, to the value of twenty 
thousand pounds, amongst which he found so rich a 
mitre that he made himself a crown thereof ^. The 



sion. 



«( 



« 



« I Kings iv. 23 . 
^ [*' George Nevil, archbishop 
*' of York, being at Windsor 
*^ with king Edward on hunt- 
** ing, the king promised the 
*^ archbishop to come to the 
'* More, (a place in Hertford- 
shire, which the archbishop 
had purchased and builded 
<' commodiously,) there to hunt 
*' and make merry with him ; 
" whereupon the archbishop, 
*' taking his leave of the king, 
'' went home to the manor of 
*' the More, and there made 
** great provision for the king, 
«' and sent for much plate, that 
** he had at that time of Bar- 



ic 



(( 



*' net and Tewkesbury fields, 
'^ and besides this, borrowed 
" much of his Mends, and pur- 
" veyed for the king, for two 
" or three days, meat, drink, 
'* and lodging, as royally as he 
could. But the day before 
the king had promised to 
" have come to the More^ the 
" king suddenly sent for the 
** archbishop to come to Wind- 
*^ sor, where he was arrested of 
*' treason, that he should help 
" the earl of Oxford, and so 
sent to Calais and to Hames, 
where he continued a long 
time a£ter prisoner ; all which 
'* time the king kept the arch- 



er 



(( 



« 



< 



iSO 



The Church History 



BOOK IT. 



A.D. 1471. archbishop he sent over prisoner to Calais, in France, 

1! LJ where vinctus jacuit in summa inopia ^, he was kept 

bound in extreme poverty, justice punishing his 
former prodigality, his hungry stomach being glad 
of such reversions (could he get them) which for- 
merly the voider had taken away at his riotous 
installation. 
A. D. 1474. 40. He was afterwards restored till his liberty 
lived from aud archbishopric, but never to the cheerfulness of 
yJJJ*^ his spirit, drooping till the day of his death. It 
added to his sorrow that the kingdom of Scotland, 
with twelve suffiugan bishops therein, formerly sub- 
jected to his see, was now, by pope Sixtus Quintus, 
freed £rom any further dependence thereon ; St. 
Andrew's being advanced to an archbishopric, and 
that kingdom, in ecclesiastical matters, made entire 
within itself; whose bishops formerly repaired to 
York for their consecration, not without their great 
danger, especially in times of hostility between the 
two kingdoms. In vain did this Nevill plead for 
some compensation to be given his see in lieu of 
so great a loss, or at leastwise that some acknow- 
ledgment should be made of his former jurisdiction, 
the pope powerfully ordering against it. Hence- 
forward no archbishop of York meddled more with 
church matters in Scotland ; and happy had it been 



c< 



€t 



tc 



" bishoprick in his own hands. 
" In the meanwhile sir William 
Parr, knight, and sir Thomas 
Vaughan, esquire» and other^ 
were sent to the More to 
*' seize all his goods for the 
'* king, which came then to 
'* the sum of 20,000/., and all 
" other lordships and lands that 
" the said archbishop had with- 



" in England, and all his stuff 
" and riches.'* Stow's Chron. 
p. 426. The fragment printed 
at the conclusion of Sprot gives 
a rather different version of this 
story. Another instance of 
Nevill's magnificence is given 
by Wood, Hist. Univ. in A. D. 

1452.] 
fs Godwin^ ibidem. 



ciKT. XV. of Britain. 481 

if Dio archbishop of Canterbury had since interested a. d. 1473. 
himself therein. isEdwJv. 

41. About this time John Goose, sole martyr in JohnOooee, 
this king's reign, suffered at Tower Hill. Let papists ™*"^" 
who make themselves sport at the simplicity of his 

name remember how their pope Os porciy or swine^s 
face^ could change his name into Sergius, which 
liberty, if allowed here, would quickly mar their 
mirth. This Goose, when ready to suffer, desired 
meat from the sheriff which ordered his execution, 
and had it granted unto him. " I eat now," saith 
he, " a good and competent dinner, for I shall pass 
" a little sharp shower ere I go to supper ^." 

42. King Edward, foreseeing his approaching a. d. 1483. 
death, (who, by intemperance in his diet, in some^f ^^" 
sort digged his grave with his own teeth,) caused g^^^*^^ 
his own and wife's kindred (sadly privy to the^^^ 
grudges betwixt them) to wait on him when he 
lay very sick on his bed^ To these he made a 
passionate speech, to exhort them to unite, from the 
profit of peace and danger of discord; and very 
emphatically urged it, insomuch that seemingly they 
were his converts, and in token thereof shook hands 
together, whilst their hearts, God knows, were fisur 
asunder ^. This speech I may call king Edward his 
.™ fcBe«l sermon, preachi b, hiiself, (and it 
may pass also for the funeral sermon of his two sonfif, 
finding no other obsequies at their burial,) though 
very little was really thereby effected. Thus died 

^ Fox, Hon. i. 939, de Po- his youth, and was only in his 

lychron. [Fox does not state forty-first year when he fell 

what opinions this person held.] into his mortal sickness.] 

* [He grew very corpulent ^ [See the substance of it in 

towards the latter years of his Stow, p. 436.] 
reign, owing to the excesses of 

FULLEE, VOL. II. I i 



sennon. 



482 The Chttrch Huioiy of Britain. book it. 

^^•^^j^^king Edward, who, contrary to the ordihaiy obser- 

vation, that men the older the more covetous, (as 

indeed dying men's hands grasp what is next, and 
hold it hard,) was gripple in the beginning of his 
reign, and more bountiful towards the end thereof. 



SECT. IV, 



TO 



JOHN FERRARS% 

OF TAMWORTH CASTLE, ESQ. 

Sir, 

Modest beggars in London streets commoniy choose twilight to 
prefer their petitions, that so they may have light enough to 
discover him to whom they sue, and darkness enough to 
cover ami conceal themselves. 

This may m^ake you the m>ore to admire my holdness^ who vn a 
mere midnight (utterly tmknovmig you ami wnkmwn to you) 
request you to accept this Dedication. But know, sir^ 
though I know not your face, I know you are a FerrarSy 
inclined hy your extraction to a gmerom diiposition, as I 
havefmnd hy one of your nearest relations^ 



* [Arms : Vaire, gules, and by whom he had a son, Hum- 
or. John Ferrars, of Tam- phrey, afterward knighted, who 
wcHTth Castle, in the county of died in 1678, leaving an only 
Warwick, esq., was descended daughter, six years old. John 
from a younger branch of the Ferrars, to whom this century 
noble family of that name and was dedicated, died in 1680. 
title. He was the only son of A pedigree of the family may 
sir Humphrey Ferrars, of Tam- be found in Dugdale's War- 
worth Castle, knight, and mar- wickshire, p. 1136, edited by 
ried Anne, daughter of the Dr. Thomas.] 
celebrated sir Dudley Carleton, 

ii2 




The ChurA Hilton/ booz iv 

|ISERABLE king Edward the Fifth 
ought to liave succeeded his father; 
but, alas ! he is ever pictured with a 
chasma or distance hetwixt his head 
and the crown, and, by the practice 
of his uncle the duke of Gloucester, chosen pro- 
tector, (to protect him from any of his iriends to 
come near him *>,) was quickly made afmy, being a 
king in right, though not in possession ; as his uncle 
Richard was in possession, though not in right. All 
the passages whereof are so elegantly related by 
nr Thomas More, that a man shall get little who 
comes with a fork where sir Thomas hath gone with 
a rake before him, and by bis judicious industry 
collected all remarkables. Only, as proper to oar 
employment, let us take notice of the carriage of 
Uie oleigy in these distractions *. 



*> [In the duke's appointment 
to the protectorate the choice of 
the nobles seems to have been 
guided in some d^ree by the 
circumstance of Humphrey 
duke of Gloucester holding a 
similar office in the reign of 
Henry VI. See Hist. Croy land, 
p. 566.] 

« [Stow has incorporated sir 
Thomas More's history into his 
Chronicle, but the most com- 
plete edition of it wss published 
by Mr. Singer. It has become 
fashionable of late to under* 
value this work, and to make 
duke Richard in aU points, as 
Fuller quaintly says, " a comely 
end beautiful person.'' Sir 
Thomas was bom in 1480, the 
twentieth year of Edward IV. 
He was intimate with cardinal 



Morton, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, who bad procured the 
union of the two houses of 
York and Lancaster, &nd had 
played an important part in 
the great events of the king- 
dom. That More bore no great 
animosity to the house of York, 
may be inferred from the cha- 
racter which he bas given, in 
the commencement of his his- 
tory, to Edward IV. To snp. 
pose, therefore, (as some do,) 
that sir Thomas should have 
descended to so poor an artifice, 
or be led astray by mere popn. 
lar report, as to blacken lung 
Richard and belie his person 

very needless and improbable 
supposition. Living at the time 
of the events which he describes. 



CENT. XV. 



cf Britain. 



485 



2. Although most of the prelates were guilty of a 
cowardly compliance with king Richard, yet we find i 
none eminently active on his side ; indeed the arch-o( 
bishop of Canterbury was employed to get Richard ^' 
duke of York from his queen-mother in the sanc- 
tuary in Westminster, and very pathetical he was in 
the persuading her to part with him, haply on a 
point of conscience, as fearing, if denied, some in- 
jury would be offered to the prejudice of the church, 
and therefore more willing himself to woo him from 
her with eloquence than that others should wrest 
him thence with violence ; yet he is generally con- 
ceived innocent herein, as not as yet suspecting any 
fraud in the duke of Gloucester, except any will 
say that it was a fault in him that so great a states- 
man was no wiser than to have been deceived by 
his dissimulation d. 



having ample opportunity of 
seeing the king^ and, still more^ 
the readiest means of obtaining 
information on this subject from 
trustworthy and living authori- 
ties, it seems little short of folly 
to imagine that he would depre- 
ciate the credit of his history by 
affirming circumstances which 
might have been so easily and 
certainly contradicted. As to 
the long speeches which he has 
put into the mouths of the 
different persons in his history, 
and the motives which he at- 
tributes to their actions, on 
these, of course, the reader 
must exercise his judgment, as 
he must wherever motives are 
attributed. Sir Thomas fol- 
lowed the style of composition 
which prevailed most in his 
own days, but this is no pre- 



sumption against his general 
accuracy. To these we may add 
as a further argument, that as 
his account is supported in 
all material circumstances by 
the Croyland Chronicle, as far 
as a copious and diffusive nar- 
rative can be supported by a 
very bald and jejune one ; so 
is it objected to chiefly on con- 
jectural evidence '* and whoso," 
(as sir Thomas says,) '* divin- 
'* eth upon conjectures, may as 
" well shoot too far as too 
** short."] 

^ [To this he was compelled, 
the dukes of Gloucester and 
Buckingham threatening him 
with personal violence, and 
urging as a pretext the wishes 
of Edward V . Hist. Croyland. 
566. Sir Thomas More (evi- 
dently by an oversight) says 

lis 



4M 



The Chmrck History 



BOCNC IV. 



^Bdi^v" '• ^^ ^ *^® inferior clergy, Dr, Shaw, a popular 
-preacher, made hunself mfamous to all posterity^ 
His sermon at St. Ptol*8 Cross had nothing bat 
the text (and that in the Apocrypha ^) good therein, 
as con^sting of two parts, defaming of the dead, 
and flattering of the living; making king Edward 
£u- worse than he was, and dnke Richard &r better 
than ever he woold be. He made king Edward the 
Fourth and the duke of Clarence both to be bastards, 
and duke Richard only right begotten, so proclaim- 
ing Cicely his mother (still surviving) for a whore ; 
all being done by secret instructions Ax>m duke 
Richard himself, who hereby gave a worse wound to 
his mother's credit than that vriiich at his birth he 
caused to her body, being (as it is commonly re* 
ported) cut out from her^ With Shaw we may 
couple another brawling cur of the same litter, 
Pynkney, the provincial of the Augustinian fiiars, 
who in the same place used so loud adulation, he 
lost his credit, conscience, and voice altogether. 
These two were all (and they too many) of the 
clergy whom I find actively engaging on his party, 
whilst multitudes of the laity sided with him. So 



that it was the archbishop of 
York, not Canterbury. Stow, 

441-j 

^ Ecclus. xxiii. 25. Spuria 

vitulamina non agent radices 
aUas, 

^ [When Richard had ob- 
tained possession of the per- 
sons of Edward V. and Richard 
duke of York, and had lodged 
them in the Tower, he produced 
a roll professing to have been 
«igned by the lords and com* 
mens, requiring him to assume 
the kingaom, on the plea that 



the children of Edward IV. 
were illegitimate, as that king 
had formed a pre-contract with 
lady Eleanor Boteler before he 
was married to queen Eliza- 
beth. A rumour was Indus- 
triously circulated (says the 
writer of the Hist. Croyland, 
Contin. p. 567) that this roll 
had been concocted at York, 
but no one was ignorant (be 
<;ontiuues) who had been the 
sole author of this vile slander 
and sedition. See sir Thomas 
More in Stow's Chron. p. 453.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain. 487 

that through the popularity of the duke of Bucking- a. d. 1483. 

ham, the law-leaming of Cateshy, the city interest of ^— ^ 

Shaw, (then lord mayor of London, and brother to 
the preacher,) the rugged rigour of Batcliffe, and 
the assistance of other instruments in their several 
spheres, the queen's kindred were killed, the lord 
Hastings murdered, king Edward and his brother 
imprisoned, and at last Richard duke of Gloucester 
elected king of England 5. 

4. His coronation was performed with more pomp ^^^/u^ 
than any of his predecessors', as if he intended with «6. 
the glory thereof so to dazzle vulgar eyes that they tuous ooro- 
should not be able to see the shame of his usur- ^^^^ ^ 
pation. Indeed some of our English kings, who by ^*<^**»^* 
undoubted right succeeded to the crovni, accounted 
their coronation but a matter of course, (which did 
not make but manifest them to be kings,) and so 
less curious in the pompous celebration thereof; but 
this usurper apprehended this ceremony more sub- 
stantial, and therefore was most punctual in the 
observation of it, causing all the nobility who held 
lands in grand sovereignty to do their service in 
state ; amongst whom Richard Dimock, esquire, 
hereditary champion by tenure, with a safe piece of 
valour (having so many to back him) cast dovni his 
gauntlet, challenging any that durst oppose the title 
of king Richard, and, for ought I do know to the 
contrary, he afterwards made bis challenge good in 
Bosworth field. And, because sure bind sure find, 
he is said, and his queen, to be crowned again in 
York with great solemnity *», 

«f [See Hist. Croyland. 566. ^ [On which occasion he 
He was crowned July 6, with had his only son Sdward pro- 
Anne his ^vife. Hist, Croy- claimed prince of Wales, Hist, 
land, ib.] Croyland. 567.] 

li 4 



488 



The Church History 



BOOK IV. 



A.D. 1483* 5. Soon after followed the murder of king Ekl- 

— ^ ^ward and his brother Bichard duke of York. It 

^ffd and was high time thej should set, when another already 
JSfl^^**^ was risen in the throne. By a bloody bloodless 
death they were stifled with pillows, and then ob- 
scurely buried '\ The uncertainty of their interment 
gave the advantage to Perkin Warbeck afterwards 
to coimterfeit Richard duke of York : so like unto 
him in age, carriage, stature, feature, fevour, that he 
v^anted nothing but success to make him who did 
but personate duke Bichard to pass current for the 
person of duke Bichard. 
King 6. After this bloody act king Bichard endeavoured 

Richard ^ ° 

yainiy en- to render himself popular, first, by making good laws 
voure j^ ^^^ g^j^ parliament kept in his reign. Benevo- 
lence, malevolence, which formerly the subjects un- 
v«illingly veiling had paid to their sovereign, (power, 
where it requests, commands, it not being so much 
thankworthy to grant, as dangerous to deny it,) he 
retrenched, and reduced to be granted only in par- 



toingra- 
tiatenim- 
tdf by 
making 
good laws. 



* [See Stow, p. 459. This 
is sir Thomas More's account, 
although the truth is doubted 
by many. Upon introducing 
this circumstance of the mur- 
der, he prefaces it with this 
observation : " I shall rehearse 
^* you the dolorous end of those 
" babes, not after every way 
'* that I have heard, but by 
" such men and by such means 
'* as methinketh it were hard 
*' but it should be true." And 
at 4he conclusion of the narra- 
tive he remarks, ** Very troth 
" it is and well known, that 
*' at such time as sir James 
** Tyrell was in the Tower 
** fortreason committed against 



" the most famous prince, king 
" Henry VII., both Deighton 
" and he were examined, and 
'^ confessed the murther in 
" manner above written. Thus 
" have I learned of them, that 
" much knew and little cause 
'* had to lie, were these two 
" noble princes, these innocent 
*' tender children, borne of 
•* most royal blood, &c., by 
'' traitorous tyranny taken, de- 
" prived of their estate, shortly 
•* shut up in prison, and pri- 
'^ vily slain and murdered, their 
" bodies cast God wot where, 
^* by the cruel ambition of 
•« their unnatural uncle." Stow, 
p. 460.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain. « 489 

liaxaeat. He regulated trading, which the Lombards a. d. 1483. 
and other foreigners had much engrossed, to thei^^il!^ 
detriment of the English nation. Now, although 
all people carry much of their lore and loyalty in 
their purses, yet all this would not ingratiate this 
usurper with them ; the dullest nostrils resenting it, 
done not for love of virtue, but his own security ; 
and that affects none which all palpably discover 
to be affected. 

7. Next he endeavoured to work himself into As also by 
their good-vrtll by erecting and endowing of reli- monaste-^ 
gious houses, so to plausiblelize himself, especially"^ 
among the clergy. Thus he built one far north, at 
Middleham, and a college in the parish of AUhallows- 
Barking \ hard by the Tower, as if he intended by 
the vicinity thereof to expiate those many murders 
which he therein had committed; besides, he for 
his time disforested Whichwood, in Oxfordshire ^ 
(then far more extended than in our age,) which his 
brother Edward had made forest, to the great griev- 
ance of the country thereabouts. Yet all would 
not do, the people being more patient for an injury 
done by king Edward than thankful for the favour 
this Richard bestowed upon them. He is said also 
to have given to Queen's College, in Cambridge, 
five hundred marks of yearly rent ^ ; though at this 
time, I believe, the college receives as little benefit 
by the grant as Richard had right to grant it ; for it 
was not issued out of his own purse, but given out 
of the lands of his enemy, the imjustly proscribed 

^ Stow's Survey of London, [See the edition by Hearne, 

[p. 1 3 1 ; Stow's Chron. p. 470.] p. 2 1 6.] 

1 Camden's Brit, in Oxford- ™ Stow in Lis Annals, p. 

shire, p. 264, out of John Ross. 470. 



400 Tk€ Church HiHory book it. 

A. p. 1483. earl of Oxford, who, being restored by Henry the 

! \ Seventh, made a resumption thereof. 

An hath r~ 8. Duke Richard was low in stature, crook-backed, 
for king with ouo shouldor higher than the other, haying a 
^1^^]^ prominent gobber-tooth, a warlike countenance which 
nmture did. ^^jj euough bocamo a soldier ; yet a modem author, 
in a book by him lately set forth, eveneth his shoul- 
ders, smootheth his back, planeth his teeth, maketh 
him in all points a comely and beautiful person " ; 
nor stoppeth he here, but proceeding from his natu- 
rals to his morals, maketh him as virtuous as hand- 
some, (which in some sense may be allowed to be 
true,) concealing most, denying some, defending 
others of his foulest facts, wherewith in all ages 
since he standeth charged on record. For mine 
own part, I confess it no heresy to maintain a para^ 
dox in history ; nor am I such an enemy to wit as 
not to allow it leave harmlessly to disport itself for 
its own content and the delight of others. Thus 
Cardan hath written his Encomium Neronis^ and 
others (best husbandmen who can improve the bar- 
renest ground) have by art endeavoured to praise as 
improbable subjects. But when men shall do it 
cordially, in sober sadness, to pervert people's judg- 
ments, and therein go against all received records, I 
say singularity is the least fault can be laid to such 
men's charge. Besides, there are some birds (sea- 
pies by name) who cannot rise except it be by flying 
against the wind, as some hope to achieve their 
advancement by being contrary and paradoxal in 
judgment to all before them. \ 

n George Buck, esq., a claw- History of Richard III. Loiw 
back to crook.back, [in his don, 1646.] 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain. 



491 



9- Soon after followed the execution of the duke a p. 1483. 

of Buckingham, king Richard his grand engineer, ' [ 

or master of the fabric of his preferment*^; the^^^^ 
occasion thus : the duke requested-required of kinff ?^®"p^- 
Richard (as confident that his merits were incapable 
of a denial) the earldom of Hereford and the here- 
ditary constableship of England, laying title to them 
by descent. Well did he ask both together, which 
would be granted both together ; for the earldom of 
Hereford was an Abishag, concubine to the former 
kmgs of England, which had long lien in the crown, 
(whilst in the Lancastrian line,) so embraced and 
interlaced therewith that it was difficult to dissever 
them ; and the affecting thereof proved as fatal to 
Buckingham as the desiring of the other was to 
Adonijah, being interpreted in both an ambition of 
the kingdom. The hereditary constableship was 
conceived too unlimited a power to be trusted to a 
subject, lest he should make more disorder than he 
should mend therewith; so that, in fine, both in 
effect were denied unto him p. 



o [The people of the south- 
em and western provinces, 
taking offence at the detention 
of the two princes in the Tower, 
began to make an insurrection, 
and gained over the duke of 
Buckingham, repenting of what 
he had done, to become the 
leader of their enterprize. At 
the instigation of Morton, bi- 
shop of Ely, who had been 
committed to the duke's safe 
keeping, a message was sent 
over to Henry earl of Rich- 
mond, then an exile in Brit- 
tany, requesting him to hasten 
over to England to assert his 



rights; but Richard, who in 
activity rivalled his late bro- 
ther, obtaining knowledge of 
this design, set spies who effec- 
tually prevented the duke from 
stirring. Finding himself thus 
beset on all sides, he attempted 
to escape by changing his ha- 
bit ; but being discovered and 
taken prisoner to Salisbury, he 
was put to death, on All Saints* 
day, which that year fell upon 
a Sunday. Hist. Croyland. 

568.] 

P [He had sought the earl- 
dom of Hereford, which he 
claimed for his inheritance, in- 



492 



The Church History 



BOOK IV; 



A.D. 1483. 10. Buckinfffaam storms thereat. Shall a coronet 

1 Rich. III. ° 



ham lar- 



be denied him, by him on whom he had conferred a 
crown ? Yet what anger soever boiled in his heart, 
SehMuM. none ran over in his mouth, pretending very fisdr in 
his behaviour ; but hard it is to halt before a cripple, 
and dissemble before king Richard. The duke vnth- 
draws to Brecknock, in Wales, with his prisoner 
bishop Morton of Ely, (committed unto him by the 
king on some distaste,) who tampered with him 
about the marriage of Henry earl of Richmond with 
the eldest daughter of king Edward the Fourth. 
The duke carried himself so open therein, that, sur- 
prised by king Richard, his head was divorced from 
his body before this marriage was completed. 

11. More cunning was bishop Morton to get 
himself over into France, there to contrive the union 



Mortoa 

mako- 

peaoe. 



effectually in the reign of Ed- 
ward IV. ; and according to 
sir Thomas More, the posses- 
sion of it was part of the cove- 
nant between him and the 
duke of Gloucester^ in his de- 
sign upon the kingdom. Stow^ 
p. 446. But sir Thomas More 
discredits (and it seems to me 
justly) the report that this was 
the cause of the dissension be- 
tween Richard and the duke 
of Buckingham. Both were 
too deep dissemblers to betray 
their passion, nor was it at this 
time to Richard's interest to 
offend a nobleman of such 
power as the duke. Further, 
had such a quarrel occurred, 
king Richard would never have 
suffered the duke to escape his 
hands and withdraw into Wales. 
** Very troth is it," says sir 
Thomas, '* the duke was an 



<t 



(f 



it 



high-minded man, and evil 
" could bear the glory of an- 
'^ other ; so that I have heard 
of some that say they saw it, 
that the duke, at such time 
" as the crown was first set 
'* upon the protector's head, 
" his eye could not abide the 
" sight thereof, but wryed his 
" head another way." The 
same writer thinks that from 
this discontent the duke with- 
drew from court, not without 
the liking of the king; and 
partly from this motive, partly 
perhaps from some feelings of 
remorse, partly from the per- 
suasions of bishop Morton, 
seconded by his own interest 
and ambition, he was per- 
suaded to join in this con- 
spiracy in order to dethrone 
Richard, and elect Henry to 
the crown.] 



CENT. XV. of Britain. 408 

of the two houses of York and Lancaster. IfA.p. 1483. 

Messed be the peace-makers be pronounced of such as ^ — •* 

reconcile party and party, how much more must it 
be true of his memory, the happy instrument to 
unite those houses, to the saving of the efiusion of 
so much blood ! Some wiU say it ^ a design 
obvious to every capacity to make such an imion ; 
but we all know, when a thing is done, then it is 
easy for any to do it ; besides, it is one thing for 
men in their brains barely and notionally to appre- 
hend a project, and another (as our Morton did) to 
elect proportionable means, and, by the vigorous pro- 
secution thereof, really to efltect it. 

12. A modem writer, in his voluminous book, Mr. Prynne 
which he hath entitled The Rebellions, Treasons, Sging^' 
Conspiracies, Antimonarchical Practices, &c. of the m^^d of 
English Prelates, to swell his number, chargeth this *'***>'^- 
bishop Morton vrith treason against king Richard 

the Third; but is it treason for one, in fevour of 
the true heir, to oppose an usurper in title and 
tyrant in practice? Surely unbiassed judgments 
behold Morton herein under a better notion. Had 
this bishop been active on king Richard's side, how 
would the same author have proclaimed him for a 
traitor against king Henry the Seventh! Thus I 
see an inevitable necessity that Morton must be a 
traitor whatsoever he did, and can observe that no 
practice will please which cometh from one whose 
person or profession is distasted. 

13. But kinff Richard his cruelties had so tired a. p. 1484. 

. , , . Earl Henry 

out divine patience, that his punishment could be no landeth at 
longer deferred. Henry earl of Richmond lands Harai. 
vnth an handfiil of men at Milford Haven ; a land- 
ing-place politically chosen, near Pembroke, the 



494 



The Church History 



BOOK ly. 



A. p. 1485. place of his nativity, in the heart of his countrymen 

^ '- and kinsmen the Welsh, (his grand&ther, Owen ap 

Theodore, alias Tuthar, having thence his extraction,) 
and far from London, the magazine of king Richard's 
might. From Milford the earl marched north-east, 
through the bowels of Wales; and both his army 
and the &me thereof crevit eundo^ grew by going. 
Many old prophecies (the people about Leicester 
will load a stranger with them) were fulfilled in him, 
and this amongst the rest may be remembered : it 
was foretold that in a great battle, which was to be 
fought near Leicester, whosoever should shoot the 
arrow first should have the victory* This most un-» 
derstood that the archer in the fight which should 
first let loose should gain the day to his side* When 
behold the earl of Richmond, bending his inarch out 
of Wales to the middle of England, first passed 
Arrow, a rivulet in the confines of Worcester and 
Warwickshire, and accordingly proved victorious; 
for into Leicestershire he came, and in the navel 
thereof is met by king Richard, and next morning 
both sides determine to try their fortunes in fight. 
This night the earl had sweet and quiet rest, whilst 
king Richard his guilty conscience was frighted with 
hideous dreams and fanciful apparitions, as no wonder 
if no pillow could give him quiet sleep who with a 
pillow had so lately smothered his lord and master % 



^ [** Mane die Lunae illuces- 
** cente aurora, cum non essent 
" capellani de parte regis Ri- 
chardi parati ad celebrandum, 
neque jentaculum ullum para- 
** turn, quod Regis tabescentem 
animum refocillaret, illeque, 
utasseritur, ea nocte terrenda 



« 



<« 



tx 



^* somnia quasi multitudine 
'* daemonum circumdatus esset, 
" viderat, sic^t de mane testa. 
*' tus est ; faciem uti semper 
'* attenuatam, tunc magis dis- 
" coloratam etmortiferam prae 
"se tulit." Hist. Croyland. 
Cont. p. 574. Of these nightly 



CENT. XT. 



of Britain. 



495 



worth. 



14. The battle is called the battle of Bo8worth,A.D.i485. 

3 Rich. IlL 

ithouirh fousht full three miles from the town^ 

^ o & The battle 

and nearer other country villages,) because Bosworth of bo- 
is the next town of note thereunto. The earl's 
army fell £sir short of the king's in number and 
arms, equalled it m courage, exceeded it in cause 
and success ; indeed the king's army was hollow at 
the heart, many marching in his main battle who 
were much suspected, and therefore purposely placed 
there to secure them from flying out, and fought 
as unwilling to overcome. Yet the scales of victory 
fieemed for a long time so equal, that an exact eye 
<!Ould not discern on which side the beam did break. 
At last the coming in of sir William Stanley with 
three thousand fresh men decided the controversy 
on the earl's side. King Richard (fighting valiantly, 
so his friends — desperately, say his foes,) fell in the 
midst of his enemies, and his corpse was disgrace- 
fully carried to Leicester, without a rag to cover 
his nakedness ; as if no modest usage was due to 



apparitions, with which this 
king was said to be visited, 
and of which Shakespeare has 
made so noble a use in his 
Richard III., sir Thomas More 
-says, ^ I have heard by credi- 
" ble report of such as were 
" secret with his (the king's) 
"* chamberlain, that after this 
'' abominable deed done (he 
** means the death of Edward V. 
** and his brodier) he never 
had quiet in his mind ; he 
never thought himself sure ; 
*' where he went abroad his 
•* eyes whirled about ; his body 
•* privily fenced ; his hand ever 
** upon his dagger; his coun- 
'' tenance and manner like one 



*€ 



« 



*' always ready to strike again. 
** He took ill rest a-nights; 
*' lay long waking and musing, 
*' sore wearied with care and 
*' watch ; rather slumbered 
" than slept, troubled with 
*' fearful dreams ; suddenly 
" sometime start up ; leapt 
^' out of his bed and ran about 
'' the chamber : so was his 
'^ restless heart continually 
^' tossed and tumbled with the 
* ' tedious impression and stormy 
** remembrance of his abomi- 
** nable deed." Stow, p. 460.] 
r Burton in his Description 
of Leicestershire, [p. 47, ed. 
1622.] 



4>96 The Church History book it. 

^«?v't?5him when dead who had been so shameless in his 

3 Rich. III. 

cruelty when alive. The crown ornamental, being 

found on his head, was removed to the earl's, and 
he crowned in the field, and Te Deum was solenmly 
^- sung by the whole army. 
A. D. i486. 15. Soon after king Henry married the lady 
sJ^^ his Elizabeth, eldest daughter unto king Edward the 
tide^the Fourth, whereby those roses, which formerly with 
•^*^^"- their prickles had rent each other, were united 
together. Yea, sixfold was king Henry his title to 
the crown : first, conquest ; secondly, military elec- 
tion, the soldiers crying out in the field, " King 
" Henry, king Henry T thirdly, parliamentary autho- 
rity, which settled the crown on him and his heirs ; 
fourthly, papal confirmation, his holiness forsootb 
concurring with his religious compliment; fifthly, 
descent from the house of Lancaster, but that, all 
know, was but the back-door to the crown, and this 
Henry came in but by a window to that back-door, 
there being some bastardy in his pedigree, but that 
was salved by post-legitimation; sixthly, marriage 
of king Edward's daughter, the first and last being 
worth all the rest. Thus had he six strings to his 
bow, but commonly he let five hang by, and only 
made use of that one which for the present he per- 
ceived was most for his own advantage. Yet, for 
all these his titles, this politic prince thought fit to , 
have his person well secured, and was the first king 
of England who had a standing guard to attend 
him. 
Thedaia: 16. Thomas Bourchier, cardinal and archbishop 
bishop of Canterbury, had the honour first to marry, then 
Bourchier. j.^ crown king Henry and the lady Elizabeth ; and 
then, having sitten in a short synod at London, 



CSNT. XV. 



of Britain. 



497 



wherein the clergy presented their new king with a a. d. i486. 

tenth, quietly ended his life, having sat in his see '- — - 

two and thirty years ■. He gave an hundred and 
twenty pounds to the university of Camhridge, which 
was joined vrith another hundred pounds which Mr. 
Billingforth, master of Bennet College, had some 



s [For this statement Fuller 
is indebted to Parker's Antiq. 
Britan. p. 443 5 an error, ac- 
cording to Dr. Wake, who has 
examined it at considerable 
length, and concludes^ upon 
the following reasons, " that 
*' in this that author, however 
'' accurate in other matters, 
*' did fortune to be mistaken :'* 
first, because the registers, which 
give a full and distinct account 
of the other convocations which 
immediately precede and fol- 
low, are completely silent as to 
this; secondly, because the king, 
when he convoked his parlia- 
ment this year, had no thoughts 
of asking any subsidy of his 
people. To this he adds that 
in this portion of his history 
our author has greatly failed in 
various points of his usual ac- 
curacy. Instead of the king 
being first married and then 
crowned with his queen at 
Westminster^ on the contrary 
the king was first crowned 
October 30th, then married on 
January i8th following; and 
the queen was not crowned till 
November 25, 1487, when 
archbishop Bourchier was dead, 
and had been succeeded by 
cardinal Morton. To conclude 
these remarks in the words of 
Dr. Wake: ''It is not impro- 
** bable that the mistake might 

FULLER, VOL. II. 



" arise from hence : in Febru- 
•' ary, 1484, a convocation was 
" held, and a tenth therein 
** granted to the king. The 
" limitation of the grant was 
" this, that one half should be 
" paid at Midsummer^ 1485 ; 
" the other the year following, 
** at Midsummer, i486. (Re- 
** gistr. Mem. Russell. Lin* 
'• coin, f. 41, 42.) It was but 
'* a little while after the first 
** of these terms that king 
" Richard was slain, and that, 
" most likely, before the pay- 
" ment then due was made. 
" The clergy, therefore, were 
" indebted a tenth to the 
'* crown when king Henry VII. 
'* came to it. If either the 
king required the payment 
of it, as 'tis probable he did, 
or the clergy* to ingratiate 
" themselves with him, agreed 
** to pay it, the error may 
" easily consist in this, that 
" our author, finding some 
*' writs or commissions dated 
** after this first parliament, 
'' for collecting a tenth upon 
" the clergy, applied that to a 
** synod held with this parlia- 
" ment of king Henry, which 
" had been granted by the 
" convocation called by the 
order of king Richard III. 
the spring before." State of 
the Church, p. 384.] 

Kk 



<€ 



<C 



<€ 



ft 



€€ 



498 The Church History book iv. 

A.D. i486.jears before given to the said university; and this 

-joint-stock was put into a chest, called at this day 

the chest of Billingforth and Bourchier; and trea- 
surers are every year chosen for the safe keeping 
thereof *. 
John Mor- 17. John Morton, bom, say some, at Beer *, but 
oeeded him. more truly at St. AndreVs Milbome, in Dorset- 
shire, (where a worshipful family of his name and 
lineage remain at this day,) succeeded him in the see 
at Canterbury. He was formerly bishop of Ely, and 
appointed by Edward the Fourth one of the execu- 
tors of his will, and on that account hated of king 
Richard the Third, the executioner thereof. He 
was, as aforesaid, imprisoned because he would not 
betray his trust, fled into France, returned, and 
justly advanced by king Henry, first to be chancellor 
of England ^, and then to be archbishop of Canter- 
bury^. 
A gift not 18. Now began the pope to be very busy, by his 
toking. * officers, to collect vast sums of money in England, 
presuming at the king's connivance thereat ; whom 
he had lately gratified with a needless dispensation, 
to legitimate his marriage with the lady Elizabeth, 
his cousin, so far off it would half pose a herald to 
recover their kindred * ; for, 

i. Edward the Third, on Philippa his queen, 
begat 

t [See Hist, of Cambridge, for bishop Morton from Flan- 

p. 93, ed. by Nichols.] ders. Stow, 471.] 

"^ [So Godwin, p. 130 3 and ^ [The chronicle called Hist. 

Stow's Chron. p. 48a.] Croyland. Contin. p. 577, calls 

V [Aug. 8, 1487.] this " dispensatio super du- 

"^ [One of the first acts of " plici quarto consanguinitatis 

this king's reign was to send " gradu."] 



CENT. XV. 



of Britain. 



499 



ii. John of Gaunt, duke a. d. i486, 
of Lancaster, who of Ka- ^^' ^^ 
therine Swinford, begat 

iii. John de Beaufort, 
duke of Somerset, who 
on begat 

iv. John Beaufort, 

duke of Somerset, who 

on Margaret Beauchamp, 

begat 

V. Margaret, on whom 

Edmund Tuther, earl of 

Richmond, begat 



ii. Lionel duke of Cla- 
rence, who on Elizabeth 
his lady, begat 

iii. Philippa, on whom 
Edward Mortimer, earl 
of March, begat 

iv. Roger earl of 
March, who on 
begat 

V. Anne, on whom Ri- 
chard Plantagenet, duke 
of York, begat 

vi. Edward the Fourth, 
king of England, who on 
Elizabeth Woodville, be- 
gat 

vii. Elizabeth, his eld- vi. Henry earl of Rich- 
est daughter, who was mond, afterwards (7th of 
married unto that name) king of Eng- 

land. 

Neither law, divine or civil, forbad marriage at 
this distance ; but the pope would be over officious, 
both to oblige the king and interest himself; as if 
no princes could well be